PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The restart of the Samira Hill gold mine, in the Niger, could be delayed by up to two months, once the project has been acquired from TSX-listed Semafo, ASX-listed Middle Island Resources MD Rick Yeates said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Semafo placed the Samira Hill operation on care and maintenance, suspending operations until the Middle Island transaction was completed.

Semafo and Middle Island entered into a sales agreement in July, under which Middle Island would acquire the Samira Hill project for $1.25-million in cash and a fixed net smelter return royalty of 1.2% on any gold sold from the Samira Hill plant, in exchange for a full interest in African GeoMin Mining Development Corporation, which held an 80% interest in Société des Mines du Liptako (SML), the owner and operator of the Samira Hill gold mine.

The Nigerean government owned the remaining 20% interest in SML.

Yeates told Mining Weekly Online that while the restart would only take about two weeks, the trigger date would be delayed by up to two months.

He explained that the plant’s current mill liners only had an expected life of another four years before they needed to be replaced. However, the lead time to order new liners was some six months.

“This is likely to be the key item that delays the start-up,” Yeates said.

He added that the project would immediately be ramped up to full production, with output depending on the quality of the ore during the transition period. The mine was expected to deliver between 40 000 oz/y and 50 000 oz/y over an initial three-year period.

However, mine life could be extended with additional exploration.

Meanwhile, Yeates said Middle Island expected to undertake its A$5-million capital raising, which was a condition of the acquisition, by early to mid-September.

“We anticipate launching the capital raising as soon as we receive a strong indication from the government that the bid is successful, but we are reluctant to do so sooner,” he added.

The structure of the capital raising was also still being assessed.