East Africa-focused gold producer, developer and explorer Shanta Gold reports that the overall construction activity at its Singida gold project, in Tanzania, is 93% complete, with all essential equipment for operation of the gold mine now being delivered to site.

The stockpile of crushed ore has reached 32 300 t – equal to over one month of supply, significantly derisking the ramp-up period of operations.

The run-of-mine stockpile at the Singida process plant is currently 127 000 t at an average grade of 3.34 g/t, containing 13 581 oz of gold – equal to about four months of processing.

The installation of tailings storage facility high-density polyethylene liner for partial deposition is on track for completion in March.

Shanta also reports that the hot commissioning of the milling circuit is planned for later in February, while hot commissioning of the full process plant is planned for March.

CEO Eric Zurrin says the construction is on schedule for first production in March.

“The completion of this mine will transform Shanta Gold into a 100 000 oz/y producer, with a diversified resource base, derisking the balance sheet and providing the business with further financial flexibility,” he says.

Meanwhile, Shanta also notes that new GM and Singida mine leader George Kondela started working for the company in January.

He is a Tanzanian national with 24 years of mining experience, having worked with Barrick Gold, Randgold Resources, Mineral Deposits, Placer Dome and Pan Australian Resources.

Kondela is well known to the Shanta team over the last 20 years and previously worked with Shanta in 2019/20 before being recruited to Barrick.

He is a trained geologist and will also focus on reserve life expansion. At Singida, the existing resource base is significantly underexplored, possessing significant geological potential across various greenstone deposits.