Exploration
Central Africa
West Africa
Amani eyes gold
DRC
Gold
Location:
Resource:
Location:
Resource:
Milestones for Birimian
Mali
Lithium
Progress is being made at Australian listed Birimian’s wholly-
owned Goulamina lithium project in Mali. The company recently
announced that it has achieved several significant milestones:
According to Chris Evans, managing director of Birimian, an
independent, third-party review of the mineral resource and
ore reserve inventory has been completed and concludes that
Goulamina’s reserves and resources may be enhanced, to the benefit
of project NPV, with limited, targeted further work.
Amani Gold is looking to acquire more gold tenements in the DRC.
Amani Gold has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
for the potential acquisition of a highly prospective package of 10
gold tenements in the DRC.
The package, collectively known as the Gada gold project, is about
80km west of Amani’s Giro project. The company signed the MoU
with Bon Génie N. Mining (BN Mining) to acquire 10 exploration
permits in the DRC through an 85.7% interest in BN Mining.
BN Mining has an option agreement with La Société Minière De
Kilo-Moto (Sokimo) over these permits, which are located in north-
east DRC within the Niangara, Dungu and Rungu Territories of the
Haut Uele Province.
According to Grant Thomas, technical director of Amani Gold, the
Gada gold project could become a great addition to Amani Gold. “We
know the geology, mineralisation and have proven at Giro, that we know
how to explore and discover gold deposits in this part of the DRC. The
acquisition of this package would see Amani as one of the major gold
tenement holders in DRC in a proven gold producing region nearby to
the 600 000 ounces (oz) per annum gold mine at Kibali.
“We have our teams ready to start sampling and mapping at
Gada. The year ahead will see Amani primarily drill deeper at
Kebigada, and then
complete follow-up
exploration drill testing
of several of the best
prospects defined at
Gada,” says Thomas.
Exploration in the DRC is
not new to Amani Gold. The
company has done explora-
tion on the Giro deposit in
the country before.
6 AFRICAN MINING JULY - AUGUST 2019
This work has commenced and will include further drilling
expected to commence in the current quarter, with completion
within the September quarter. Any change to mineral resources
and ore reserves will also be dependent on the completion of the
current metallurgical test work programme and subsequent possible
revision to metallurgical recovery estimates. An internal review of
the test work undertaken for the Pre- Feasibility Study (PFS) and
post PFS has been completed, with a revised test work programme
aimed at increasing recovery already having commenced.
The first stage of this is High Pressure Grinding Rolls (HPGR)
test work, followed by reflux classification and flotation
programmes. All impacts resulting from the potential use of an
HPGR will be assessed, with the target of ensuring an optimised
process flowsheet and metallurgical recovery estimate.
A detailed survey of all available road routes for concentrate export
between the Goulamina mine site and the Mali ports of San Pedro
and Abidjan has been completed, concluding that the available
road routes to both Abidjan and San Pedro (bulk material ports in
Ivory Coast) are suitable for the transport needs of the project.
In addition, an alternative route to port has been identified that
may offer a further improvement in current transport operational
cost estimates. The report into the water supply options for the
project has also been received.
The report concludes that the use of surface water dams for
water supply to the project is viable and likely to be the most cost
effective and secure option. Further work on design and approvals
to establish the dams as another source of water have been
commissioned.
“In the past six months, Birimian has successfully progressed the
project’s economics, obtained environmental permissions and
lodged the mining permit, strengthened the management and
operations teams and continually engaged with our potential offtake
and funding partners. “We should complete the optimisation of
the current feasibility study for Goulamina in the third quarter of
this year and look forward to further enhancements to the project’s
economics through that process,” says Evans.
www.africanmining.co.za