AngloGold’s Tropicana on track to deliver 500 000 oz/y from 2020

17th September 2018 By: Marleny Arnoldi - Deputy Editor Online

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – There is a strong focus on continuous improvement at AngloGold Ashanti’s 70%-owned Tropicana mine, in Australia, and the aim is to produce 500 000 oz/y of gold from 2020, with support from the adjacent Boston Shaker prospect.

In a presentation to the media, on Monday, AngloGold Ashanti Australia senior VP Michael Erickson said a prefeasibility study on the Boston Shaker area will be completed in December, with mining works to start in June 2019.

The Boston Shaker extension drilling has confirmed potential for underground mining, which could contribute supplementary high-grade ore to production from 2020.

The Boston Shaker area is still open at depth and further underground potential exists along strike.

“Once we have an establishment at Boston Shaker, the underground area at Havana will become a focus point,” said Erickson.

AngloGold Ashanti will also continue to assess satellite openpit potential.

Tropicana, in which Independence Group owns a 30% interest, produced 219 000 oz of gold in the six months ended June 30, at a total cash cost of A$655/oz and an all-in sustaining cost of A$939/oz.

Since mining started in 2013, the mine has produced 2.2-million ounces of gold, always delivering up to expectation and within budget.

The mine is on track to deliver between 478 000 oz and 492 000 oz this year.

Tropicana has a mining rate of about 95-million tonnes of ore a year, putting the mine around fourth in terms of Australia’s biggest gold mines.

Now that the mining profile has been optimised to move 95-million tonnes a year, AngloGold intends to match the processing capability by increasing the mine’s processing capacity to 8.2-million tonnes of ore a year.

This will be 600 000 t higher than the current capability and will be effected through optimising the operation’s ball mill, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

A 6 MW ball mill will be installed to increase recovery by up to 3% to 92%, by reducing the grind size.

The A$28-million mill upgrade mill should be operational by January 2019, with construction currently 35% complete.

Meanwhile, optimisation work at Tropicana continues, with backfill remaining a key focus.

The mine life has already been extended to 2026 and stock exhaustion is anticipated in 2029.

So far, 100-million tonnes of waste has been removed from the openpits, which Erickson said has had minimal effect on production and, in fact, extended the stockpile feeding by one year.