Name of the Project
Fekola gold project.
Location
The project is located in south-west Mali, on the border between Mali and Senegal.
Client
B2Gold.
Project Description
The project comprises a conventional openpit owner-operated mining operation. The ultimate pit is planned for development in a sequence of six stages or cutbacks.
The final pit design will be about 2 km long, 800 m wide and 320 m deep, with an overall waste to ore (strip) ratio of 4.9:1.
The base case mine production schedule involves the movement of 32-million tonnes of material to sustain the processing of five-million tonnes a year of ore at an average grade of 2.37 g/t gold. High-, medium-, and low-grade ore will be blended throughout the mine life, with high- and medium-grade ore being prioritised to increase produced ounces and project value.
Fekola will produce an average of 374 000 oz/y to 400 000 oz/y in the first five years of production (2018 to 2022) and 365 000 oz/y to 390 000 oz/y over the first seven years of production (2018 to 2024).
A waste-rock storage facility will be built to the west of the openpit, and suitable mine waste will be used for the tailings storage facility rises to the north-east of the pit.
The mill will use a conventional flowsheet comprising single-stage primary crushing; a semiautogenous grind mill and ball mill grinding circuit with a pebble crushing grinding circuit; leach feed thickening, with thickener overflow treated through a carbon-in-column circuit; leaching followed by carbon-in-pulp adsorption; elution and gold recovery to doré; and cyanide destruction, tailings thickening and disposal circuits.
Potential Job Creation
Not stated.
Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.
Value
$499.7-million.
Duration
B2Gold declared commercial production at its Fekola mine in December 2017, achieving the milestone four months ahead of the original schedule, and one month ahead of the revised schedule.
Latest Developments
B2Gold has extended mineralisation at its Fekola mine 1 km to the north, with the positive drill results continuing to indicate potential for a larger openpit operation that could justify a relatively low capital cost plant expansion from 5.5-million tonnes a year to about 7-million tonnes a year.
Based on about 10 000 m of diamond drilling completed this year at Fekola North, the mineralisation is about 900 m north of the current resource pit boundary.
The higher-grade gold mineralisation is hosted in shallow, north-plunging shoots, the same structural setting as higher-grade ore shoots in the Fekola deposit.
New drill results indicate the main higher-grade Fekola ore shoot is thicker and extends closer to surface than previously thought.
Importantly, mineralisation remains open to the north and has been intersected up to 1.8 km north (Hole 233) of the main Fekola deposit.
Meanwhile, B2Gold is focusing on infill drilling to upgrade 900 000 oz within the resource pit boundary currently classified as indicated and inferred. Assays from five holes have averaged 61 m of 2.3 g/t gold.
Key Contracts and Suppliers
Not stated.
On Budget and on Time?
Yes.
Contact Details for Project Information
B2Gold, tel +1 604 681 8371, fax +1 604 681 6209 or email investor@b2gold.com.