Mobilisation of Byrnecut’s newest offshore contract for Canadian-owned Corp B2Gold recently commenced. The contract is located at the Otjikoto operation and specifically covers the new high grade Wolfshag Underground Mine, approximately 320 km north of the capital city Windhoek, Namibia. Wolfshag is Byrnecut’s first mining contract in Namibia and the team includes 34 experienced expatriate miners from Australia, Indonesia and parts of Africa working jointly with 58 appointed local Namibians and B2Gold Otjikoto staff to ensure the success of what is the first underground gold mine in Namibia.

Byrnecut said the client is currently upgrading the camp to accommodate all Byrnecut employees and ensure that it is a first-class facility. The contract for Wolfshag is valued at US$112 million and consists of both development and production, including a total of 10 km of development and a total material movement of 3.2 Mt. The underground fleet is mainly from Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions and currently consists of one DD422i DC jumbo, one DD422i jumbo, two LH517i loaders, three TH551 trucks and a DL432i production drill rig.

In its full year 2021 results, B2Gold stated: “Development of the Wolfshag underground mine continues to progress with ore production expected to begin in the first half of 2022. The initial underground Mineral Reserve estimate for the down-plunge extension of the Wolfshag deposit includes 210,000 oz of gold in 1.2 Mt of ore at 5.57 g/t gold.”