Kinross lowers guidance, says Tasiast mill restart expected by year-end
Discharge end of the SAG mill showing trommel screen (under its cover).
Photo by Kinross
Canada-based Kinross Gold has resumed mining activities and construction work at the expansion of its Tasiast mine, in Mauritania, but milling activities continue to be suspended following last week’s fire.
Early estimates indicate that the SAG mill would only restart by year-end, at a cost of up to $50-million, the gold miner reported on Monday.
As a result, Kinross had lowered its 2021 production guidance to 2.1-million gold-equivalent ounces, from 2.4-million previously disclosed. The 2022 and 2023 guidance of about 2.7-million to 2.9-million gold-equivalent ounces remained unchanged.
Based on the initial estimate of the mill’s downtime and with ongoing work on the 24k project, Tasiast’s throughput capacity is now expected to reach 21 000 t/d during the first quarter of 2022, compared with the previous estimate of year-end 2021. Throughput capacity is expected to increase to 24 000 t/d by mid-2023, which is unchanged from the original 24k project estimate.
“Although this unfortunate incident is expected to impact our annual production guidance, our financial position and longer-term outlook remain very strong,” said president and CEO Paul Rollinson.
Investigations into the cause of the incident remained under way, however, initial findings found that the fire began at about 23:00 on June 15 at the trommel screen of the SAG mill. At the time, the SAG mill was shut down and was undergoing scheduled maintenance, including welding.
The fire was mainly limited to the discharge area of the SAG mill, which Rollinson said was owing to the quick response of the site team.
Kinross stated that it did not anticipate the fire to affect Tasiast’s life-of-mine production and mineral reserve estimates, or have a material impact on the mine’s overall value.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
