Ghanaian based mining firm, Asante Gold Corporation is aiming to increase its gold recovery from its Bibiani sulphide ore to 92 per cent by the first quarter of 2025.
In its announcement of the progress update related to the planned sulphide treatment plant and rerouting of the Bibiani-Goaso Highway at the Bibiani Gold, the company stated that the plant is planned for completion in the first quarter of 2025, at a total capital cost of approximately $30 million.
“Once in operation, gold recovery from sulphide ore processed at Bibiani is expected to increase from 70% to approximately 92%, resulting in increased gold production and lower AISC,” said the firm in a statement.
“On this basis, the estimated payback on the sulphide plant is expected to be just four months.”
According to the company, installation of the sulphide plant is key to its plans to grow gold production at Bibiani to more than 250,000 ounces per year. Cumulative production of 1.2 million ounces of gold is anticipated over the next five years at lower all-in sustaining costs (“AISC”), as detailed in the 2024 Bibiani Technical Report.
The sulphide plant intergration
The sulphide plant is a unit operation that will be integrated with the existing process plant. It will include rougher flotation to produce a sulphide concentrate that is 10% of total process plant feed. This concentrate will be thickened and reground to 25 microns in order to liberate gold that occurs at 35 microns or more. Following this, the material will be treated with high-intensity leach, after which the tailings will be returned to the main carbon-in-leach plant.
Installation of the sulphide plant continues to advance on schedule and within budget, with civil works now 55% complete. Long-lead time equipment was ordered in 2022, including the flotation equipment, thickener, grinding mill and the associated structural steel for the regrind section. Shipment of these items will start in mid-August 2024, with delivery to the Bibiani site starting in September 2024. In addition, other relevant equipment including pumps, instrumentation, switchgear, Aachen reactor, and leach tank agitators are being ordered at this time. All other structural steel and platework for the project will be fabricated in Ghana.
As far as energy needs are concerned, the additional connected power load is approximately 3.5 megawatts, with an operating load of 2.4 megawatts. Detailed engineering is being progressed by Mining Process and Project Engineering (MPPE), a Ghanaian engineering company. The Project Execution Plan has been developed and issued by Jet-Rom, the Ghanaian project management company, which estimates six months for completion.
When the sulphide plant is completed, Asante expects to be producing approximately 20,000 ounces per month at Bibiani, which is in line with the Company’s long-term planning for the mine. Asante looks forward to the completion of the sulphide plant as it works to improve and optimize its operating mines.
Rerouting of the Bibiani-Goaso Highway
Traffic was redirected onto the new road constructed to maintain access to Bibiani-Goaso Highway on June 3, 2024. This allowed closure of the portion of the road impacted by the mine’s expansion plans. As previously announced (see press release of June 13, 2024), rerouting the highway allows the Company to access 170,000 ounces of contained gold from the main pit in the next 12 months. This ore was previously inaccessible.
The Company completed its first pass of grade control drilling on June 10, 2024 and started to deliver oxide ore to the process plant on June 14, 2024. To date this oxide ore has yielded gold recovery of approximately 85% through the process plant.
In addition to improved gold recovery in the short-term, mining south at the main pit of Bibiani defers full processing of sulphide ore until the sulphide plant is completed. This will allow Asante to recover approximately 92% of the gold in the sulphide ore, compared to the current recovery rate of approximately 70%.
Financial Initiatives
Asante has partnered with Endeavour Financial on a non-dilutive financing initiative to strengthen the company’s balance sheet and support future growth. The initiative is well advanced, and substantive news is expected soon.
Qualified Person Statement
David Anthony, P.Eng., President and CEO of Asante, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this release. He is a “qualified person” under NI 43-101.
Non-IFRS Measures
This release includes non-IFRS measures, such as “all-in sustaining costs” (AISC), which are commonly used in the mining industry but not defined under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). These measures may differ from those used by other companies. For more details, refer to Asante’s Management Discussion and Analysis under “Non-IFRS Measures” for a discussion and reconciliation to IFRS terms.