Name: Geita gold mine (GGM).

Location: The mine is located about 910 km from Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania.

Controlling Company: AngloGold Ashanti.

Brief Description: GGM is an ongoing multiple openpit operation that currently sources ore from the Nyankanga and Geita Hill pits.

Brief History: The Geita deposits were first discovered in 1936 and by 1966 Geita Gold Mines and Cluff Resources had produced almost one-million ounces from three mines on the deposit.

Ashanti acquired the project through the acquisition of Cluff Resources in 1996.

Ashanti reached an agreement to sell AngloGold a 50% interest in GGM for $324-million in early December 2000. AngloGold Ashanti added its neighbouring Nyamulilima Hill deposits into the joint venture company.

In 2004, the merger of AngloGold and Ashanti resulted in the operation being run by AngloGold Ashanti.

In 2015, the decision was taken to go underground at the Star and Comet deposits at GGM. Preparations are under way to start underground mining at the deposits this year, using the services of an underground mining contractor.

Products: Gold.

Geology/Mineralisation: The Geita greenstone belt (GGB) hosts several world-class shear-hosted Archaean lode gold deposits and forms the northern portion of the regional Sukumaland greenstone belt – one of several belts that comprise the Lake Victoria goldfields.

The east-west orientated GGB is 60 km long and up to 15 km wide. The Geita terrain comprises upper- to mid-Nyanzian greenschist facies units, consisting of clastic sediments, black shales, banded iron formation (BIF) and volcaniclastics. These have been intruded by a variety of felsic to mafic intrusive bodies, dykes and sills. Regional north-north-easterly structures hosting Proterozoic gabbro dykes are also prominent geological features in the area.

North-west-trending deformation corridors divide the GGB into the Nyamulilima terrain in the west – hosting the Star and Comet, Ridge 8 and Roberts deposits; the Central terrain in the central part – hosting the Nyankanga, Geita Hill, Lone Cone and Chipaka deposits; and the Kukuluma terrain to the north-east – hosting the Matandani, Kukuluma and Area 3 West deposits.
Geita’s gold mineralisation is preferentially hosted in BIF, cherts and ironstones that have been affected by ductile and brittle deformation associated with shear zones. The shears exploit fold axial planes and the contacts between the supra- crustal and intrusive rocks.

Reserves: Proven and probable reserves as at December 31, 2015, were estimated at 24.23-million tonnes, grading 3.33 g/t of gold.

Resources: Exclusive mineral resources as at December 31, 2015, were estimated at 37.29-million tonnes, grading 3.57 g/t. Exclusive mineral resources below infrastructure were estimated at 9.08-million tonnes, grading 6.52 g/t of gold.

Mining Method: Mining at GGM is currently undertaken by conventional truck-and-shovel openpit mining on two active pits – Nyankanga and Geita Hill.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Openpit mining is undertaken using a GGM-owned, -operated and -maintained fleet. A contractor provides drilling and blasting services.
GGM currently has an established 5.2-million-tonne-a-year carbon-in-leach processing plant capable of processing hard ore. The circuit contains a primary gyratory crusher, secondary and tertiary crushers, a semiautogenous and ball mill and 12 leach tanks. This is coupled with a gravity circuit through two Knelson concentrators.

The mine also has an established tailings storage facility, with sufficient area to build wall raises every three years to accommodate planned future production.

A full workshop facility supports the maintenance of heavy mining equipment and all light support equipment. Contractor infrastructure supported on the mine site includes workshops for the production and exploration drilling contractor and a plant for the explosives supplier. Further infrastructure includes a mine village, medical clinic, mine store, administration buildings and an airstrip.

Prospects: GGM’s exploration strategy remains the three major projects – Geita underground, refractory ore and satellite deposits.

Contact Person: Senior VP investor relations and group communications – global, Stewart Bailey.

Contact Details:
AngloGold Ashanti,
tel + 27 11 637 6000,
email sbailey@anglogoldashanti.com, and
website http://www.anglogoldashanti.com.