Refurbishment of mine haulage roads, safety berms, waste dumps and mining benches are advanced. First ore has been delivered to the run of mine pad, more than one month ahead of schedule. “Restart of open-pit mining at Bibiani after 17 years of restructuring and development marks an exciting milestone for Ghana, for Asante and especially for the community,” President and CEO Douglas MacQuarrie said.

The company purchased the asset in late August 2021 and MacQuarrie said the company is excited to bring this high-grade Ghanaian gold mine back to production and add to the near 5 million ounces (oz) of historical production. PW Mining (Ghana) was selected as the mining contractor in December. Mobilization and site establishment has accelerated into February and is currently two months ahead of schedule, such that more than 75 items of heavy equipment and maintenance facilities are now at site. The full fleet for open-pit mining will eventually grow to 130 units, to enable treatment of 3 million metric tons per year (mt/y).

Process plant refurbishment is on schedule and on budget, with more than 60% of the scheduled work complete. All work activities are proceeding as planned. The Bibiani mine plans to produce approximately 175,000 oz of gold in its first 12 months of operation. Thereafter, the Bibiani Mine plans to produce 220,000 to 270,000 oz/y for a minimum of seven years.

Asante is planning to initiate development of an underground mine design at the PEA level of study in the third quarter of 2022, with a view to developing an underground mine operation from 2026. This will provide significant overlap with open-pit mining operations, which are currently scheduled to proceed into 2029.