$40 million earmarked for Edikan mine reinvestment

Gold miner Perseus Mining’s reinvestment into its Edikan mine, in Ghana, would tip at more than $40 million at the end of the 2018 financial year, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Quartermaine said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Africa Downunder conference in Perth, Australia, he said that as of the June quarter, some $14.1 million had been spent at the gold mine, with a further $20.9 million earmarked for 2017 and $5.4 million for 2018.

“We have been spending a lot of money in Ghana over the last few years,” miningweekly.com quoted Mr. Quartermaine as saying.

The bulk of the spending this year would go towards gaining access to new mining areas, providing housing and road infrastructure, and completing the build on a new power station to supplement grid power in case of an outage.

Furthermore, funding would also go towards rectifying issues that were identified at the Edikan plant during its early operation.

“This exercise will take place over the next couple of months and would result in very substantial improvements at Edikan,” Mr. Quartermaine said.

Over its remaining seven-and-a-half-year mine life, the Edikan mine is expected to produce an average of 222 000 oz/y of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of $865/oz.

Gold was first produced at the Edikan mine in August 2011, and the site achieved commercial production in January 2012. Currently the site has 5.7 million ounces in measured and indicated resources, 2.4 million ounces inferred and 8.1 million ounces in resource, which indicates about 2.9 million ounces in reserve.