Asante Gold Corporation announce a progress update related to the planned sulphide treatment plant and rerouting of the Bibiani-Goaso Highway at the Bibiani Gold Mineani.
Installation of the sulphide plant is key to the Company’s 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, as detailed in the 2024 Bibiani Technical Report.
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. On this basis, the estimated payback on the sulphide plant is expected to be just four months.
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 plate work 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.
