PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Minerals explorer Signature Metals could increase the yearly gold output at its Konongo project, in Ghana, to between 40 000 oz and 60 000 oz, by spending between $3-million and $4-million, an internal scoping study has indicated.

The study showed that Signature could increase the plant throughput to around 700 000 t/y.

The expansion would be centred around the existing 350 000 t/y carbon-in-leach plant on site, and would be dependent on the successful refurbishment of the existing plant.

Since no serious equipment defects have been identified in the works to date, Signature said that the company could start a prefeasibility study on the expansion of the plant, to include a more detailed costing for capital items, further financial modelling and discussions with potential suppliers.

The expansion of the existing plant would be the first step in Signature’s aim of making the Konongo gold project a 100 000-oz/y producer. The company was currently in the process of studying other options to achieve this goal, as well as carrying out an aggressive exploration programme to test its exploration target of between 1,5-million and 2,5-million ounces.

Meanwhile, Signature was also continuing to increase the feedstock available for the restart of production at Konongo.

In addition to the Joint Ore Reserves Committee resource of 1,27-million tons, the Konongo project contains material on oversize stockpiles, low-grade dumps and in tailings/battery sands adjacent to the historical workings.

This material is estimated to contain between 400 000 t and 500 000 t of ore, at grades of between 1,5 g/t gold and 5 g/t gold.

Owing to the low cost of reclaiming these stockpiles and dumps, Signature would likely process this material during the initial phase of production.