PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The sulphide roaster at the Syama gold mine, in Mali, is expected to be fully operational by early to mid-December, gold miner Resolute Mining said on Monday.
Resolute in October took the roaster off line after a crack was detected in the main external shell.
The dual-listed miner on Monday said that repair work on the roaster was progressing well with the installation of the secondary shell to the defective area where the crack occurred.
“The roaster downtime is affecting what would otherwise be a highly productive period for Resolute as we ramp up the Syama underground mine,” MD and CEO John Welborn said.
“Despite this setback, we have poured more than 42 000 oz of gold in October and have an annualised production run rate of more than 500 000 oz. We are working hard to repair the Syama roaster and are committed to delivering on our ambitions at Syama by delivering stable long-life, low-cost production from the underground mine.”
Automated underground activity at Syama has continued to ramp up, and with the roaster off line, the mining team has been able to prioritise drill stocks, drawpoint development and focus on automation optimisation, while also achieving further acceleration in mine production.
The roaster downtime is expected to provide Resolute the opportunity to accumulate more than 300 000 t of available underground ore on the run-of-mine pad, providing confidence that the underground operation would be able to achieve its nameplate capacity of 2.4-million tonnes a year on a consistent and ongoing basis from January 2020.