Firefinch Ltd has announced that mining activities have commenced as scheduled at the Morila Super Pit in Mali. Initial activities comprise pre–stripping of waste from the first stage of the Morila Super Pit, which will continue during Q1 2022. Ore mining is currently forecast to commence during Q2 2022, with the Morila Super Pit becoming a consistent source of ore in the second half of 2022. Mining is being carried out by the company’s primary mining contractor Mota Engil working in joint venture with Malian group Intermine (MEIM). Morila SA engaged MEIM in June 2021 to perform contract mining operations at the Morila Super Pit and satellite pits. MEIM initially mobilised to commence mining at the Viper satellite pit.
Hydraulic mining of high–grade tailings and satellite pit ore has provided a window to commence mining operations at the Morila Super Pit using the current fleet of Caterpillar 773 units. A new mining fleet of Komatsu 785 trucks is onsite being assembled and will be operational imminently to ramp up material movement and accelerate the development of the Morila Super Pit.
Firefinch’s Managing Director, Dr Michael Anderson, commented: “Morila Super Pit is where the greatest value for the business lies and, as we have done consistently to date, we have successfully delivered on another Morila development milestone. Having previously stated that we’d commence mining at the Morila Super Pit in Q1 2022 we have broken ground in the first week of the quarter. Importantly we are now well set up for 2022; in addition to the fleet that has just commenced work we have a brand new 100 tonne mining fleet that will be on the go–line next week, and a fleet of larger 150 t units that will be commissioned in the coming months. Drilling is also ongoing and continues to provide us with increased confidence in the potential at Morila. We look forward to safely developing the Morila Super Pit and generating the full value that Morila the Gorilla has to offer.“
Firefinch has an 80% interest in the Morila Gold Mine. The Morila Gold Mine is one the world’s great open pit gold mines, having produced over 7.5Moz of gold since 2000 at grades that were among the highest in the world, earning it the moniker “Morila the Gorilla”.
Firefinch acquired Morila for $28.9 million from Barrick and AngloGold Ashanti in late 2020 with the strategic intent to rapidly increase production; initially targeting 70,000-90,000 oz/y of gold from a combination of satellite pits, stocks and tailings, and thereafter growing production to 150,000-200,000 oz/y of gold by mining the Morila Super Pit. Morila’s current Global Resource is 2.43 Moz of gold.
