Golden Star Pours BIOX Gold at New Bogoso Sulphide Plant


In late March 2007, Golden Star Resources poured the first gold from the BIOX section of its new Bogoso sulphide processing plant in Ghana. The first pour totaled 228 oz.

Golden Star President and CEO Peter Bradford commented, “While we have previously had gold production from the new processing plant, that production derived from the processing of oxide ore during the testing of the crushing, grinding, and carbon-in-leach (CIL) sections. The gold production announced today reflects the first gold poured from the BIOX process of the new refractory sulphide ore processing plant and, although small in quantity, demonstrates that the process is working as it should.”

The buildup of BIOX material in the stainless steel tanks began in 2006, and, as of the end of February 2007, overflow material from the Module 1 BIOX tanks was being sent to the washing thickeners. The CIL tanks started receiving bio-oxidized material from Module 1 in March. A Module 2 BIOX section became operational in April.

The new sulphide processing plant was expected to achieve commercial production in the second quarter of 2007, to be at or near design capacity by the third quarter, and to be at or near design recovery rates by the fourth quarter. When the sulphide expansion project is fully on line, Golden Star’s Bogoso/ Prestea operations are expected to produce between 260,000 and 290,000 oz/y of gold at cash operating costs of $330/oz. Bogoso/Prestea recorded gold sales of 104,000 oz during 2006 at cash costs of $290/oz.

Golden Star also reported that it began mining its Pampe satellite gold project on the Akropong trend 26 km north-northwest of Bogoso in March. The company has been exploring the Pampe area for a number of years and has identified a 219,500-oz mineral reserve, which was included in its year-end 2006 mineral reserve estimate for Bogoso/ Prestea. The Pampe reserve is non-refractory and at a grade of 3.3 g/mt gold provides an attractive source of feed for the Bogoso CIL plant.

The Pampe area also establishes a second exploration front to support Bogoso/Prestea operations. The Akropong trend runs parallel to and about 30 km west of the well-known Ashanti trend and represents a major deep-seated fault system that hosts gold-rich hydrothermal systems.

Regarding the availability of power in Ghana, Golden Star reported that the Akosombo reservoir remained at near record-low levels and that, despite the government’s best efforts to conserve power nationwide, the availability of power remained a concern. The power authority reconfirmed power rationing throughout Ghana at the end of March, with all users being limited to 75% of their normal consumption. Golden Star’s operations continued to save power where practicable and to operate on-site diesel generators as needed to comply with power-rationing requirements.

With regard to the joint power-station project that Golden Star is participating in with Newmont Mining, AngloGold Ashanti, and Gold Fields, civil construction work on the foundations of the plant began in March. The plant was scheduled for delivery to Ghana in April, and commissioning was scheduled for July. Separately, Golden Star is investigating additional power generation options to make its operations less dependent on the national grid.