Norwegian mining company Akobo Minerals has announced a new mine development plan to accelerate production and commissioning of a processing plant at its Segele mine, in Ethiopia.

The three-phase mine development plan has been designed, together with Sutton Global, to substantially increase ore production and enhance operational efficiency.

The first phase of the new mine plan will involve increased production from existing winzes and optimised operations, while the second phase will comprise construction of a vertical shaft and commissioning of a carbon-in-leach system.

The company is targeting gold recovery rates above 90%.

The vertical shaft will provide access to the project’s indicated resource of 41 000 oz at an average grade of 40.6 g/t. Civil work on the vertical shaft is scheduled to start this month and will be completed within three to five months.

The third and final phase will entail incline shaft development to access deeper sections of the orebody and facilitate underground drilling for further exploration once the vertical shaft is operational.

The Segele mine started operating in November last year, having produced 15 kg of gold in the quarter ended December 31. This production was achieved form the mine’s development activities rather than direct mining of the orebody.

The company has since smelted 2.3 kg of gold, with total December production expected to reach 3 kg after final smelting.

After 15 years of development, the reporting quarter marked Akobo's first time generating revenue covering most of the company’s operational expenses.

“This marks a transformative shift from the project phase into steady gold production,” the company says.

The company continues to develop its Eastern winze, where production is expected to begin this month. The winze marks the highest-grade area of the Segele deposit.

The Western winze is already within the orebody, with production now focused on extracting high-grade ore.

Owing to the Eastern winze development, as well as safety enhancement at the Western winze following a temporary closure, Akobo expects lower production in January, but says output should recover from February.