Photo by: Reuters
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed gold miner Perseus Mining has revealed an updated life-of-mine (LoM) plan for its Edikan gold mine, in Ghana, which the miner said proved the project’s economic reliability.
The revised LoM plan involved mining and processing ore from seven optimised openpits, which host an ore reserve of 61.6-million tonnes, grading 1.2 g/t gold, for some 2.35-million ounces.
In the 2015 financial year, the Edikan mine was expected to deliver between 200 000 oz and 210 000 oz, at an all-in cash cost of between $1 075/oz and $1 125/oz.
However, between 2016 and 2023, gold production from the mine was expected to increase to around 240 000 oz/y, at an average all-in cost of $937/oz.
“The updated life-of-mine plan clearly demonstrates that Edikan is an economically robust operation that has successfully come through an extended ramp-up phase. Based on this updated plan, the future prospects of Edikan, and therefore Perseus, are both very positive,” said Perseus MD Jeff Quartermaine.
He noted that over the past 12 months, the company had demonstrated that by focusing on achieving incremental improvements to both the technical and commercial aspects of the operation, Perseus could consistently deliver credible results.
“The external environment in which we operate can be unpredictable and challenging at times; however, based on recent performance, we are very confident that we have a highly professional site team that is adaptable and more than capable of rising to these challenges when they occur,” Quartermaine said.