London-listed mining services company Capital has been awarded an expanded drilling services contract at gold miner B2Gold's Fekola mine, in Mali.
The expanded contract will apply until the end of 2024 and services now include diamond and reverse circulation drilling, as well as grade control drilling.
"We are pleased to be further expanding our service offering at the Fekola gold mine and building our relationship with B2Gold. This new contract award is a strong endorsement of our strategy, not only of expanding our service offering on mine sites with blue-chip customers, but also in repositioning the portfolio to long-term contracts that are positioned to operate consistently through the cycle," comments Capital chairperson Jamie Boynton.
To effectively broaden its services at Fekola, Capital has acquired ten drilling rigs from African Mining Services (AMS).
As a result, capital expenditure for 2022 is now expected to be about $60-million to $65-million, compared with the $50-million to $55-million previously guided.
"We have been opportunistic in purchasing rigs from AMS, which allows us to more rapidly commence operations and, as a result, we are increasing our 2022 capex guidance . . . and our year-end rig count to about130 rigs.
"Revenue guidance for the year remains in line with the company's recently upgraded guidance of $280-million to $290-million and we look forward to a strong contribution from the new contract in 2023 and 2024," Boynton says.