JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – A study has confirmed that dry mining could be considered at the Sembehun project, in Sierra Leone, Aim-listed Sierra Rutile said on Monday.
The study also confirmed that the project fit well into the company’s long-term production plan and its ability to fund its growth plans while supporting meaningful and sustained distributions to shareholders.
The proposed project comprised an openpit dry mining operation with two 500 t/h concentrator units, which had near identical configurations to the company’s Gangama dry mine.
As Sembehun was a long-term project, no decision on the start of the project would be required until at least 2017; however, it represented the next stage in production after Gangama, contributing 74 000 t/y of rutile over a mine-life of 19 years. Operations were estimated to start in 2019.
The Sembehun project, which would cost about $126-million to develop, had an estimated average total operating cash cost of $317/t and was expected to reduce Sierra Rutile's total operating cash costs to $481/t, on average, over the first five years of the project.
Sierra Rutile would use internally generated cash flow to develop Sembehun, in line with its stated plan of funding growth, while paying a sustainable dividend.
The company would release the results of a prefeasibility study on the project in the third quarter.
"The study provides clarity over Sierra Rutile's long-term plans. Together with [the] Lanti dry mine and Gangama dry mine, the project demonstrates our committed transition to a dry mining focused company,” CEO John Sisay said.