Name of the Mine
Öksüt mine.
Location
Kayseri province of south-central Turkey, 295 km to the south-east of Ankara and 48 km south of the City of Kayseri.
Mine Owner/s
The mine is owned and operated by Öksüt Madencilik Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ, a company acquired in full by the international gold mining company Centerra Gold.
Brief Description
Öksüt is an openpit mining operation comprising two distinct pits called Keltepe and Güneytepe.
Brief History
Centerra became the 100% owner of Öksüt in 2013.
In 2015, the project's environmental-impact assessment approval was concluded and in 2016 the environmental- and social-impact assessment was prepared and published.
The feasibility studies on the project were completed and construction started in 2018.
The first gold pour at Öksüt occurred on January 31, 2020, and the mine achieved commercial production on May 31, 2020.
Primary Metals/Minerals
Gold.
Secondary Metals/Minerals
Not stated.
Geology/Mineralisation
Öksüt is a high-sulphidation epithermal gold deposit within the Central Anatolian volcanic province, part of the Tethyan metallogenic belt. The belt extends from south-eastern Europe across Turkey, the Caucasus, and on into Pakistan and contains several important gold and porphyry copper deposits.
Magmatic activity and related ore forming processes are the result of the closure of the Tethyan Ocean in response to the collision between the north moving Arabian plate and the Eurasian plate, which began in the late Cretaceous period and continues today.
Öksüt gold mineralisation is hosted within the Develidağ volcanic complex, one of the numerous stratovolcanoes situated along the Central Anatolian fault zone. The volcanic complex comprises miocene basaltic-andesitic volcanic domes, pyroclastic rocks, and lava flows. Flow-banded pliocene andesite overlies these sequences and the Öksüt mineralisation to the north and east.
Reserves
Total proven and probable reserves as at December 31, 2020, were estimated at 26.31-million tonnes grading 1.34 g/t gold.
Resources
Total measured and indicated resources as at December 31, 2020, were estimated at 10.76-million tonnes grading 0.66 g/t gold and inferred resources at 1.11-million tonnes grading 0.66 g/t gold.
Mining Method
Conventional truck-and-shovel openpit heap-leach mining operation.
Major Infrastructure/Equipment
The mine includes jaw and cone crushers, the ore extracted from openpits is sieved and scaled down until appropriate dimensions are reached, and then put through heap-leaching and carbon-in-column processes to obtain doré gold.
Prospects
Exploration drilling activities completed late in the third quarter of 2021 have expanded oxide gold mineralisation at the Keltepe North and Keltepe Northwest deposits and have provided encouragement that it may be possible to join these two deposits in the future.
Contact Details
Öksüt Madencilik Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ
Tel +90 312 408 87 00
Email info.omas@centerragold.com
Website http://oksutmadencilik.com.tr/
Sources
Centerra Gold. Centerra Gold records third quarter net earnings of $27.6-million ($0.09 per common share), Adjusted net earnings of $35.7-million ($0.12 per common share), cash provided by operating activities of $62.4-million and free cash flow of $41-million (November 5, 2021).
Öksüt Madencilik Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ. Website http://oksutmadencilik.com.tr/ (accessed on January 4, 2022).