TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Africa-focused gold miner Semafo has reached agreement with the Burkina Faso government to build a transmission line to its Mana mine, which will cut costs at the mine by $40/oz.

The 73-km-high voltage line will cost $19-million to build and connect the mine to the national power grid in the second half of 2013, the company said on Monday.

Montreal-based Semafo will lend half of that amount to government-owned power company Sonabel, which it will repay over eight years following commissioning.

“Under this new power delivery agreement and in today's economy, we would be paying $0.18/kWh,” said COO Benoit Desormeaux. That compares to the $0.31/kWh it was costing the company to generate its own power.

In addition to Mana, Semafo owns the Samira Hill mine in Niger and the Kiniero operation in Guinea.

The company halted work at Kiniero last month after local residents protested around the property, forcing it to evacuate expat employees. On Friday it said it was unsure when operations would resume.

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