Multi-national mining giant, Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (NGGL), has announced that it has commenced expansion works at its Subika underground mining site at Ahafo Mine in the Asufuti District of the Brong Ahafo Region, with a projection to increase gold production by over 200k ounces annually.
According to Newmont Ahafo Mine Manager, Mr Yaw Okyere Ntramarh, the company is within its operational schedule to start commercial production at its expanded Ahafo Mine by the end of 2018.
He noted that the company, which has been operating surface mining in Ahafo Mine site since its entry into the Ghanaian mining industry in 2002, has now secured an environmental mining permit from the government to undertake underground mining in one of its pits—the Subika pit.
The expansion, Mr Ntramarh disclosed, was estimated to boost the capacity of the mine by more than 50%. He pointed out that underground resource has been studied for over eleven (11) years and is estimated to have about 1.8 million ounces of gold which could be mined over an 11-year period. According to him, the underground exploitation coupled with the expansion of the Ahafo Mine is expected to shoot the volume of gold produced from the current 315000-to-345000 ounces to 550000-600000 ounces annually.
He mentioned that the ore grade of 4.7 grams expected from the underground mine is said to be three times higher than Newmont’s surface mines. Addressing members of the Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA), Mr Ntramarh stressed that the expansion has became necessary as a result of surface mining becoming less economical.
“What we do in mining is that you start from the top, then you create a pit and then with time it ceases to be economical to mine from surface so then you have to go and do the mining from underground. …So the underground deposit is just an extension of the Subika pit itself; the ore body,” he explained.
He noted that no new licence was required for the construction of the underground mine since it was just an extension of the current operations. “We don’t need a licence for that because we’re changing mining methods, we had to apply for a new permit which we now have,” he said. On the mine expansion project, Newmont Ahafo Mine manager indicated that it would make the new line of mining more economical.
“The construction of the new mine is based on the fact that if we are able to put in more materials through those plants, it becomes economical to mine. This is not an expansion but it’s called retreating or re-mining the old stockpiles and then putting it through the plants. It’s just increasing throughout and getting gold out of it,” he further noted.
Together the two projects are expected to create an average of 500 temporary jobs with a member of the 10 host communities filling a chunk of the available slots. According to Yaw Okyere Ntramarh, experts will be scouted to work underground. “There’ll be about 200 to 400 jobs during the construction period and then it will decline. For the Subika underground project, we are looking for expertise in underground mining; that’ll be another 200 jobs,” he stated.
For his part, Communications Manager of Newmont’s Ahafo Mine, Mr Agbeko Kwame Azumah, noted that NGGL entered Ghana’s gold industry in 2000 and has been producing in commercial quantities.
It opened its Akyem mines in 2013. As at October 2016, 5 million ounces of gold was recorded. He added that the company which is mining gold in Akyem in the Eastern Region and Ahafo in the Brong Ahafo Regions would continue to identify opportunities that will create value for its shareholders and the mining communities. “We will continue to explore into new areas of creating value for our shareholders in order to remain in business and operate more sustainably,” Mr Azumah told journalists.
On his part, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Mr Suleman Koney, commended Newmont on its expansion drive. He said that “Anytime mining companies do exploration and they are able to expand their operations to increase production, everybody should be excited because what it invariably means is that you are providing the space for companies to employ more people and to pay more taxes and so on and so forth.”
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