Name and Location
New Liberty gold project, Liberia.

Client
Aureus Mining.

Project Description
New Liberty will be Liberia’s first commercial gold mine and Aureus’ first mine in its highly prospective 546 km2 licence area.

The gold deposit, which lies within the Bea Mountain mining licence, has a total proven and probable reserve of 8.66-million tons, grading 3.3 g/t gold.

Total resources comprise an estimated 651 000 t, grading 4.77 g/t gold in the measured category; 9.15-million tons, grading 3.55 g/t gold in the indicated category; and 5.73-million tons, grading 3.2 g/t gold in the inferred category.

The measured and indicated resources are generally located within the first 200 m below surface. The inferred resource remains open at depth.

A feasibility study completed on the project envisioned an openpit mining operation, extracting ore at a nominal rate of 1.1-million tons a year. The openpit will comprise two adjacent and interconnecting pits.

The mining schedule expects the operation to produce 8.7-million tons of ore, grading 3.3 g/t, with an associated 132-million tons of waste, and an average life-of-mine stripping ratio of 15:1 over a mine schedule of 8.5 years.

A steady-state mining rate is planned after the initial period of waste prestripping at an annualised plant feed rate of 1.1-million tons. The yearly waste mining rate is 22.2-million tons for the first five years, followed by 10.6-million tons, 5.7-million tons and 2-million tons for the last year, which results in an average waste mining rate of 16.2-million tons over the estimated eight-year mine life.

The waste material will be placed in a dump to the south of the pit for the first four years of production, following which the bulk of the waste material will be backfilled into the Larjor pit. A mining contractor will be used for all earthmoving activities and a conventional truck and shovel method will be used for mining operations.

The mining project includes a process plant, offices, workshops, a generator power plant, housing and warehouses, a mining camp, a tailings storage facility (TSF), a rock dump, an explosives bay, various ore stockpiles and a stream diversion, referred to as the Marvoe Creek diversion channel (MCDC).

Value
The initial capital cost of the project is estimated at $140-million, which excludes contingency, but includes the design and development of the processing plant, mining establishment and prestrip, general mine infrastructure and power supply, tailings dam construction, creek diversion and general infrastructure.

Duration
First production is expected in 2015.

Latest Developments
Construction of Aureus’s New Liberty gold project remains on track, with first gold expected during the first quarter of 2015.

The project’s engineering and construction programme is progressing according to schedule, with the company having awarded the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) design and construction services contract to DRA Mineral Projects.

The structural, mechanical, platework and piping supply contract has also been awarded, with first steel planned from the fabrication works before year-end.

The ball mill shell, which will be released from fabrication in December and shipped to the New Liberty site by the second quarter of 2014, has passed its final inspection and progress is ahead of schedule. The mill ends will also be completed and released from fabrication in December.

All bush clearing has been completed for the process infrastructure, including the tailings storage facility area, and upgrade work on the Daniels Town access road bridges is under way, with one of four bridges completed.

Further, the Marvoe Creek spillway earthworks are nearing completion, with topsoil removal and excavations under way at the holding dams.

Aureus has reported that civil works are advancing at the primary and secondary crusher foundations, the secondary screening building, the mill stockpile tunnel foundation, the carbon-in-leach tanks and the gold room foundations.

Meanwhile, construction at the Camp David staff accommodation complex is on track, with junior accommodation nearing completion and senior and visitor accommodation construction under way.

Work is continuing at the New Kinjor township, with building work on the church and mosque completed. Construction of the houses and the community centre are ongoing.

The company has completed the foundations for 100 of the 161 duplex housing units under construction. Two house units have been completed, with a further 20 units at an advanced stage.

Further, the two school buildings that are under construction will be ready for occupation during December.
Key Contracts and Suppliers
Golder Associates Ghana (environmental- and social-impact assessment scoping study, TSF and MCDC design work), DRA Mineral Projects (EPCM design) and Australian Mining Consultants (43-101 resource classification and openpit and mining optimisation studies).

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
Aureus Mining CEO David Reading, tel +44 20 7257 2930.
Golder Associates Ghana, tel +233 302 978 819/23 or fax +27 11 315 0317.
DRA Mineral Projects, tel +27 11 202 8600.
Australian Mining Consultants, tel +61 3 8601 3300, fax +61 3 8601 3399 or email amcmelb@amcconsultants.com.au.