JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Australian gold producer Resolute Mining will accelerate its underground mining plan for its Syama gold mine, in Mali, and is targeting full production from underground mining by 2017.
Announcing the outcome of a review interrogating its options at the mine, Resolute CEO Peter Sullivan said on Friday the move to underground mining was an “excellent result” for the mine, as it immediately advanced Syama to its long-term mining plan.
“In the current gold environment it is a much more capital efficient outcome, while maintaining gold production levels,” he commented in a statement.
As part of the change to the mine plan, Resolute has accelerated mining of the Stage 1 openpit, with mining of all ore and the use of the mining equipment expected to be largely complete by the end of the June 2015 quarter.
Portal and decline development would start in early 2016 from the Stage 1 pit, from a portal about 200 m below the surface. This would allow early access to underground ore for development of initial production stopes, while continuing to extend the decline to the surface for long-term access to the underground.
Resolute would maintain mill feed from Stage 1 ore, sulphide ore from the satellite pits, Syama underground development ore and existing lower grade stocks through to 2017, when full production stoping from underground mining was expected to be ramped up.
Work had started on the detailed underground feasibility study, which would be completed in the March 2016 quarter. The previous underground prefeasibility study would be updated in the June 2015 quarter.