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Gold mine achieves first commercial production

15th May 2015

  

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Vancouver-based gold producer B2Gold’s Otjikoto gold mine, 300 km north of Windhoek, had its first month of commercial production in March this year.

The company declared the start of commercial production based on the performance of the mill, and the fact that the company met commercial production criteria of 30 consecutive days of mill throughput at 65% of nameplate capacity by February 28.

Otjikoto is expected to produce between 140 000 oz and 150 000 oz of gold – including precommercial production at a cash operating cost ranging between $500/oz and $525/oz this year.

In 2015, all ore will come from the existing Otjikoto pit. Once the planned mill expansion is completed in the third quarter of 2015, B2Gold expects that yearly gold production from the main Otjikoto pit will increase significantly to about 200 000 oz/y in 2016 and 2017.

Otjikoto’s gold production will also be enhanced by the development of its Wolfshag zone, adjacent to the main Otjikoto pit.

Mill Expansion
Expansion of the Otjikoto mill from 2.5-million tonnes a year to 3-million tonnes a year continues on schedule. The addition of two leach tanks, which have been delivered to site, has begun and the pebble crusher has been ordered.

It is expected that this work will be completed by August 31.

This expansion will support additional throughput initially from the Otjikoto mine and subsequently from the fully permitted Wolfshag deposit.

Greater Efficiencies Achieved
Meanwhile, B2Gold notes that the project has been highly efficient to date. The mill, against a target of 11 964 oz, has produced 12 319 oz.

In March, the average daily mill throughput was 7 668 t/d of ore, compared with a budget of 6 855 t/d with mill recoveries averaging 98.6%, compared with a budget of 95.9%.

In January, Otjikoto continued its strong ramp-up to commercial production and produced 8 587 oz against a budget of 8 267 oz. February also saw gold production ahead of budget with 10 228 oz produced, compared with 8 863 oz budgeted.

During the first quarter, the average daily mill throughput was 7 295 t of ore, compared with a budget of 5 982 t. The mill has a design capacity of about 6 800 t/d of ore.

The company says the above-budget production for the first quarter of 2015 was mainly the result of better-than-expected throughput of 657 000 t against 538 000 t budgeted and mill recoveries of 97.2 %, compared with a budget of 96%.

The average gold grade processed in March was, however, lower than expected at 1.65 g/t, compared with a budget of 1.83 g/t.

The average gold grade processed for the first quarter was 1.53 g/t, compared with a budget of 1.75 g/t.

B2Gold notes that the processed gold grade continues to increase towards budget as the mine optimises mining grade control and continues to fine-tune the new on-site assay lab.

“This improvement is expected to continue as the mine gets below the upper complex oxide portion of the orebody and reaches transitional and primary ore,” the company says.

Edited by Leandi Kolver
Creamer Media Deputy Editor

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