Tanzania’s largest gold producer African Barrick Gold’s (ABG’s) Bulyanhulu gold mine, in the Shinyanga region of Tanzania, has achieved a milestone of 500 000 hours lost-time injury-free (LTIF) hours.

The mine, which has an estimated mine life of more than 25 years, aimed to reduce direct and indirect labour costs, over time, by increasing proportion of preventative main- tenance and improving procurement prac-tices, which also led to maintaining the current safety standards and high LTIF hours.

According to its website, ABG’s priorities for this year includes upping its safety averages even more, with the company now aiming to achieve a further 10% in its total recordable injury frequency rate across all its operations, including Buzwagi and North Mara, in Tanzania.

In January, ABG concluded negotiations with a syndicate of commercial banks, led by Standard Bank, for the provision of an export credit-backed term loan facility of $142-million for the expansion of its Bulyanhulu process plant, in Tanzania.

Minerals process and project management company MDM Engineering completed a bankable feasibility study in December 2011, followed by value engineering, which took place from March to September 2012.

MDM Engineering was awarded the contract for the process plant expansion, which started in October 2012.

The project is expected to cost $167-million and involves 600 people working on site, the majority of whom are appointed in Tanzania. The construction of a new 2.4-million-tons-a-year carbon-in-leach facility will enable the mine to process material reclaimed from historical tailings and concurrently process existing flotation tailings, of which only about 30% are currently treated.

ABG is in the project execution phase of the construction of the carbon-in-leach circuit. The plant is expected to produce an additional 40 000 oz of gold for the next six years, from the first quarter of 2014, and an additional 10 000 oz/y for the rest of the mine’s 25-year life.

According to the company’s website, over the life of the project it will produce more than 600 000 oz of gold at cash costs of about $600/oz and will require minimal sustaining capital.

MDM Engineering explains that focused management input and effective planning are crucial, owing to the challenges associated with remote projects.