JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Tanzania-focused mineral exploration and development company Kibo Mining continues to work “progressively” through the feasibility studies that are required to move its Imweru project, in the Lake Victoria goldfields region, into the construction phase and into early production in the near term.

CEO Louis Coetzee on Wednesday said Kibo had, to date, undertaken a significant amount of feasibility work, including the compilation of a Joint Ore Reserve Committee-compliant competent persons report on the Imweru gold resource and a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on the gold resource.

The next stage of project development work would involve completion of definitive feasibility studies (DFSs) on the multipit gold mine, inclusive of the associated environmental assessments and advanced financial modelling for the Imweru project.

The DFS work would also include securing all related permits
or rights with the Ministry of Energy and Minerals and other government departments and agencies.

Completion of the DFSs will advance Imweru to financial close and early production. To date, all the required planning and preparation for Stage 1, Phase 2 (the prefeasibility study, or PFS) of the Imweru DFS had been completed, while the first scheduled work activities of the PFS, comprising primarily a site visit to the project site by technical experts from Minxcon Projects, had also been completed.

The site visit had confirmed the conclusions and assumptions set out in the PEA.  

The Imweru PFS would entail a comprehensive study of the viability of a range of options that advance to a stage where the preferred pit configuration is established and an effective method of mineral processing is determined.  

The range of options to be investigated during a mining PFS included owner-operated and contractor-operated mining options. 

Through the PFS, the overall confidence level of Imweru would be advanced to between 70% and 85%, from the current 40% to 50%.

Additionally, the PFS would investigate and assess the potential to expand known mineral deposits and to advance new target areas.