Name of the Project
Bibiani gold project.

Location
Ghana.

Project Owner/s
Asante Gold concluded the $90-million transaction to buy Bibiani, in Ghana, from Australia’s Resolute Mining in August 2021.

Project Description
Resolute aims to re-establish an underground mine at the project.

A feasibility study has confirmed a viable development pathway and contemplates the production of up to 1.2-million tonnes a year from longhole, open stope underground mining.

The stope will be started through a slot raise at one end of the ore drive and then mined by progressively firing the drill rings and retreating along strike.

Level designs will comprise:

• main level access, excavated 5.5 m wide and 5.5 m high, with an arched profile;
• footwall drives, excavated 5.5 m wide and 5.5 m high;
• crosscuts and ore drives, designed to fit longhole drills and loaders;
• stockpiles for storing stope ore, ready for truck loading and placed every 150 m along the footwall drive; and
• a sump, placed in the main level access and linked to the lower levels through a drain hole.

The study proposes mining 100 000 t a month of ore, with about 25 000 t a month of waste providing total rock movement of 125 000 t a month.

Ore processing will occur at the existing Bibiani processing plant.

The process design produces a sulphide concentrate by flotation at a primary grind size of P₈₀ 106 μm. Concentrate is fine-ground to P₈₀ 25 μm before cyanidation. The flotation tails are also cyanide leached, while carbon-in-leach (CIL) recovers the gold.

Gold production is expected to be maintained at an estimated 100 000 oz/y, which will sustain a five-year mine life on the initial ore reserve.

Potential Job Creation
The project will employ up to 300 people, including subcontractors, over its nine-month duration.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
Preproduction capital expenditure is estimated at $75-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Asante Gold poured first gold at its Bibiani gold mine in July 2022.

The processing plant was commissioned in early June 2022, while 24-hour daily operation started on July 1, 2022, including CIL stripping, with elution areas now operating.

Latest Developments
Precious metals miner Asante Gold has started operating its sulphide plant at the Bibiani mine, marking the completion of construction and commissioning of the facility.

Twelve-hour-a-day operations started on September 27, with the plant scheduled to transition to continuous operation from September 30. The company will focus on testing and optimisation through October, targeting an increase in life-of-mine gold recovery from 60% to 92%.

“With construction and commissioning of the Bibiani sulphide treatment plant complete, we are focused on the next phase, which moves the plant into operation, ramp-up, testing and optimisation to achieve 92% recovery and enhance Bibiani’s growth profile,” president and CEO Dave Anthony has said.

The $32-million project was delivered on budget and has a nameplate capacity of four-million tonnes a year. The plant is designed to treat ore below 110 m depth, where about 30% of gold occurs within sulphide mineralisation.

The flowsheet includes flotation, regrind of flotation concentrate to 25 μm, Aachen reactor technology in the high-intensity leach circuit, and carbon-in-pulp recovery. Tailings from the sulphide plant return to the existing CIL plant for further treatment.

Key Contractors, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Asante Gold, tel +1 604 558 1134 or email info@asantegold.com.