Resolute Mining completes Syama sulphide plant shutdown
Gold miner Resolute Mining has completed the shutdown of the Syama sulphide plant in Mali.
The shutdown started February 18 with the comminution circuits fully recommissioned by March 20. Flotation concentrate has been stockpiled in advance of the Roaster restart to provide immediate gold concentrate feed.
The Syama Gold Mine, located approximately 32km from the Côte d’Ivoire border and 300km southeast of the capital Bamako, comprises the Syama Underground Mine and Tabakoroni complex.
The full restart of the Roaster was delayed by three days to account for revised recommendations from the refractory suppliers resulting in a more conservative refractory installation and curing process.
First gold concentrate was fed to the Roaster on March 31, completing the restart of the entire sulphide processing circuit.
The performance of the entire sulphide plant is now expected to be more consistent and manageable, as measured by the overall plant availability, leading to improved production outcomes. Roaster capacity is also expected to increase which will effectively move the sulphide circuit ‘bottleneck’ from the Roaster to the Crusher.
Following a detailed review of the integrity of the Roaster, use of condition monitoring controls and the properties of the newly installed refractory it should be possible to extend the next major shut and refurbishment of the Roaster by up to seven years improving the production profile of the Syama sulphide project and Life-of-Mine fundamentals.
Syama sulphide production is forecast to increase by more than 25% to between 155,000oz and 170,000oz with a resulting decrease in AISC to between US$1,200/oz and US$1,275/oz.
Resolute’s Chief Operating Officer, Terry Holohan, thanked employees and contractors for the successful completion of the $7.5m enhancement project.
"From the early stages of planning, incorporating all the innovative design improvements and challenging logistics through to final delivery, the work performed reflects a highly competent and professional team. The team have successfully met all of our operational requirements while having to deal with a number of external factors, including COVID-19, unseasonal weather and political disruption to deliver a safe and high-quality project for Resolute," he said.
“I believe that we now have all the tools in place to significantly extend the campaign life of the Roaster going forward. The entire sulphide processing circuit has now had a long overdue refurbishment which supports delivery of Resolute’s 2022 production targets, full tie-in of key improvement initiatives implemented in 2021 to provide a strong basis for further enhancements to the circuit.”
While group revenue totalled $549.2mn last year and resulted in underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $129.9mn, the underlying net loss after tax of $367.4mn was driven by "a number of one off non-cash items associated with impairment of assets, fair value adjustments and tax charges," according to its 2021 annual report.
Alongside the Syama Gold Mine, Resolute also owns the Mako Gold Mine in Senegal, and its global Mineral Resource base comprises 9.5mn oz of gold.