EIA Approved for Alamos Gold’s Aği Daği Project



Exploration drilling at the Ag?i Dag?i project site.

Alamos Gold reported that Turkey’s Ministry of the Environment and Urbanization has issued a Positive Decision Certificate for the company’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of its Aği Daği gold project on the Biga peninsula in northwest Turkey. The company continues work on amending the EIA for its Kirazli project to include an assessment of the potential cumulative impacts of proposed projects in the region. The projects are located about 25 km apart.

A positive, combined pre-feasibility study (PFS) on the Aği Daği and Kirazli projects was completed in 2012, with both projects contemplated as stand-alone open-pit, heap-leach operations. Under the PFS, Kirazli is expected to produce an average of 99,000 oz/y of gold at total cash costs of $515/oz, inclusive of royalty, over a five-year mine life. Ağı Dağı is expected to produce an average of 143,000 oz/y of gold at total cash costs of $611/oz, inclusive of royalty, over a seven-year mine life.

Mining at both deposits will be by openpit methods, utilizing a traditional drill, blast, load, and haul sequence to deliver ore to the primary crusher and waste to waste dumps, pit backfill, and/or as heap-leach pad construction fill. The PFS assumes that a contract miner will be hired to provide mine equipment and operating personnel during pre-production and throughout the life-of-mine of the operations.

Processing will include heap leaching of crushed ore with dilute cyanide solutions and precious metals production in carbon adsorption-desorption-recovery (ADR) plants to produce doré bars. Wherever practical, identical equipment will be used at the two operations to minimize spare parts handling and inventories and to facilitate major equipment operations and maintenance.

Alamos acquired the Aği Daği and Kirazli projects on January 6, 2010, from Teck and Fronteer Development for total consideration of approximately $90 million.


As featured in Womp 2014 Vol 09 - www.womp-int.com