TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canadian project developer True Gold has started irrigating ore on the heap leach pad at its Karma gold project, in Burkina Faso, and reported Tuesday that commissioning of the absorption, desorption and refining plant was well under way.
Mining was ahead of schedule, with about 600 000 t of above-average grade stockpiled.
True Gold expected the project to pour its first gold at the end of the month.
"With gold production only weeks away and almost five months of mining under our belts, we are pleased to see mining costs tracking in-line with the feasibility study. We have purchased all key supplies and reagents and are seeing the benefits of lower prices for fuel, cement and cyanide at below feasibility cost estimates," stated True Gold president and CEO Christian Milau.
The Vancouver-based miner reported that the operations team was fully staffed and actively engaged in the ramp up to commercial production. The crushing, agglomerating and stacking was now operating on a 24/7 schedule and had been treating ore at a rate of 600 t/h.
Last week, Endeavour Mining moved to acquire the company for its 90% interest in Burkina Faso's Karma project in an all-scrip deal valued at about C$191-million. The deal would create a new West Africa-focused intermediate gold producer, with a portfolio of low-cost producing assets spread across Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana.