• WEST AFRICA | MALI North east view of the plant site reclaim conveyor B2GOLD’S FEKOLA PROJECT 1 October 2017 will celebrate the offi cial production start-up at international gold miner B2Gold Corp.’s (B2Gold) Fekola project in Mali. Not only is this operation destined to be the company’s largest gold producing mine, but will also boast one of the lowest cost margins within the operating mine portfolio, Fekola general manager RANDY REICHERT tells LAURA CORNISH. IN SHORT Once operational later this year, B2Gold’s Fekola project will be the company’s flagship operation. N ot only will B2Gold bring its US$395 million Fekola project on stream two months ahead of the original schedule (October as opposed to December 2017), it will further be ready to ramp up towards an expanded production profile of 5 Mpta ROM throughput, as opposed to 4 Mtpa. “In bringing our production forward we also anticipate producing about 50 000 oz of gold in the 2017 year still,” says Reichert, who attributes the successful ramp- up in construction to a dedicated Mali MILLING Metso supplied hardware, software and services for an AudioMill system with one microphone for one unidirectional SAG mill and a VisioRock Compact system with one camera. The technical objective of the AudioMill system is to generate information about the sound level of the SAG mill in frequency bands, filter unwanted noises, detect and quantify cyclic sound variations and estimate sound level of impacts on SAG mill liners. VisioRock technology is a online measurement system of particle size distribution, shape and other properties of rocks or ore on a conveyor belt. The technology vastly optimises performance. 22 MINING REVIEW AFRICA | APRIL 2017 workforce and a fine-tuned construction- management team, many of whom were responsible for the successful delivery of B2Gold’s Otjikoto project in Namibia. At full production, Fekola will contribute between 350 000 oz and 400 000 oz (at $418/oz) to the total B2Gold production profile, in turn making it the company’s largest mine and increasing total gold output from across its mining operations located in various parts of the world, from around 500 000 ozpa to just over 900 000 ozpa. It is also expected to be a low-cost producer and should enable the company to significantly reduce its longer term cash operating costs per ounce and all-in-sustaining-cost (AISC) per ounce. Fekola at a glance Situated on the western edge of Mali, bordering Senegal, the influx of equipment to site has been a logistically smooth process – because a 40 km access road linking the mine to a main highway in- country was completed in 2015. The Fekola operation – 90% owned by B2Gold and 10% owned by the Mali government (the government has the option of purchasing a second 10% at fair market value) – will be a large-scale open pit mine generating 32 Mtpa of ore and waste material. At a throughput capacity of 5 Mtpa, the process plant will produce on average between 350 000 and 400 000 ozpa of gold for the first seven years. In June 2016 B2Gold announced it would be expanding the throughput at the Fekola mine from 4 Mtpa to 5 Mtpa – a decision determined by basic project economics and drill results near surface and underground below the main pit revealing the potential for more ore. The decision also followed an optimised feasibility study and environmental and social impact study which accommodated the uplift in production and established that the Fekola mine could reach its higher throughput in its initial years for relatively low additional capital cost. In August the company decided to proceed with the expansion and approved an $18 million budget for additional items including a pebble crusher, additional leach tank and additional generator. “It is on Panoramic view of the plant construction of the Fekola Project