FLSmidth has been selected to supply key process technologies for two greenfield gold mines being built by Canadian companies, one in West Africa, B2 Gold’s Fekola, and one in Canada, Pretivm’s Brucejack.

For the Fekola gold mine in Mali, FLSmidth has been selected to supply the key milling, separation and gold refining technologies as well as commissioning and start up-services.

Initial construction activities at Fekola began in February 2015 led by core team members of B2 Gold’s Otjikoto (its gold mine in Namibia) construction team. Early works included the assessment of construction equipment needs, purchasing and mobilisation of required equipment and materials, hiring of local contractors and mobilisation of key personnel. Early works construction included:

• Improving the existing access road between Kenieba and the site (complete)
• Construction of a new site access road (complete)
• Construction of an on-site airstrip designed to allow personnel to fly directly in and out of the site
• Commencement of construction of the camp pad and commencement of excavations within the mill footprint
• Excavation and stockpiling of sand and gravel from the local river for construction purposes.

Highlights of the optimised Fekola feasibility study:

• Open pit gold mine with an initial production life of mine (LOM) of 12.5 years based on probable mineral reserves
• Average gold production for years one through seven of 350,000 oz/y at a $418/oz operating cash cost
• Average LOM gold production of 276,000 oz/y at an operating cash cost of $552/oz
• Ppen pit Probable Mineral Reserves of 49.2 Mt at a grade of 2.35 g/t Au gold at a stripping ratio of 4.5:1
• Average LOM gold recovery of 92.8% resulting in a total of 3.45 Moz produced over the 12.5 years
• Estimated pre-production capital cost of $395 million plus $67 million for fleet and generator costs which are expected to be lease financed. This does not include approximately $30 million of early work completed by the end of June 2015
• Cumulative LOM net cash flow pre-tax of $1.66 billion at an assumed gold price of $1,300/oz
• NPV pre-tax of $1.01 billion at a 5% discount rate generating a pre-tax IRR of 35%
• Plant and supporting infrastructure built to a design throughput of 4 Mt/y with a 25% design factor which allows for future throughput expansion with minimal additional capital outlay
• Start of production is expected in the fourth quarter of 2017.

The Fekola project is located within the Kayes Region, in southwest Mali, on the western border of Mali with Senegal. It lies about 210 km south of Kayes and about 40 km south of the city of Kéniéba.

The other gold mine, Pretivm Resources’ Brucejack (shown in the picture), is being built in northern British Columbia, Canada. FLSmidth’s scope of supply is similar to the Fekola mine with the addition of Knelson gravity concentrators to capture the gold present in Brucejack’s orebody by means of gravity separation.

The project is part of a largely unexplored land package of over 103,000 ha located some 65 km north of Stewart in northwest British Columbia. The Valley of the Kings is the focus, comprised of high-grade visible gold stringers within a lower grade gold quartz stockwork system. A feasibility study completed in June 2014 outlined Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves in the Valley of the Kings of 6.9 Moz of gold (13.6 Mt grading 15.7 g/t Au).

It is to be an underground mine with an operating rate of 2,700 t/d using long-hole stoping and cemented paste backfill. Stopes will be mined using a combination of longitudinal and transverse mining, depending on zone width and orientation. Cemented paste tailings will be prepared in a paste plant located on surface near the mill and then pumped underground for distribution to the stopes.

Other highlights of the June 2014 Brucejack feasibility study (using base case $1,100/oz gold, $17/oz silver and exchange rate of 0.92 US$/C$) include:

• Base case pre-tax NPV (5% discount) of $2.25 billion
• Mine life of 18 years producing an estimated 7.3 Moz of gold
• Average annual production of 504,000 oz of gold over the first eight years and 404,000 oz of gold over the LPM
• Base case pre-tax IRR of 34.7%, with payback estimated at 2.7 years
• Estimated project capital cost, including contingencies, of $746.9 million
• Average operating costs of C$163.05/t milled over mine life.

“Our customers are interested in new highly efficient process technologies with low environmental impact. Our global footprint is also an advantage for gold miners where projects like Fekola – with owners in the Americas, mines in Africa and engineering houses in Australia – are the norm rather than the exception,” says Group Executive Vice President of the Minerals Division in FLSmidth, Manfred Schaffer. www.b2gold.com; www.pretivm.com