PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Takeover target Beadell Resources has completed the final stages of its Tucano plant upgrade, in Brazil.

The company on Thursday said that the construction of the pre-leach thickener, carbon-in-leach tank and oxygen tank that comprised the final stages of the plant upgrade have now been completed and commissioned.

MD and CEO Dr Nicole Adshead-Bell told shareholders that the mid-November construction timeline was achieved despite numerous engineering, procurement and financial control challenges, which resulted from the previous contractor managing the Tucano plant upgrade.

She noted that the completion of the plant upgrade would provide Beadell with the foundation for the Tucano optimisation, allowing for greater ore type processing flexibility.

“This will enable us to make risk adjusted capital allocation decisions with respect to mining and process, based on grade rather than ore type.”

The $27.6-million upgrade of the Tucano plant will allow the plant to process a mix of sulphide and oxide mill feed and to process head grades in line with the reserve grade, consistently. The modifications to the plant will also allow for an increase in forecast recoveries from 88% to 93%, and a more steady gold production profile and increased free cash flow.

However, the company may need to spend an additional $100 000 on spargers, as issues with the effectiveness of the oxygen spargers were identified during commissioning, which limit the injection of oxygen into the leach tanks.

Beadell noted that the initial sparger selection by the previous contractor managing the plant upgrade may not be ideal for the oxygen plant configuration, and if a solution could not be found, new spargers would have to be installed.

Beadell is currently the takeover target of TSX- and NYSE-listed Great Silver Panther, which is offering Beadell shareholders 0.0619 common shares in Great Panther for each Beadell share held, implying an offer of $105-million.