B2Gold Achieves Commercial Production at Fekola Mine, Mali
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B2Gold Corp. has achieved commercial production at its Fekola Mine in Mali, one month ahead of the revised schedule and four months ahead of the schedule announced in the optimized feasibility study (OFS).
Ramp up to full-scale production at Fekola remains ahead of schedule with gold production well above budget in each of the ramp-up months, beating original recovery, grade and plant availability estimates in the OFS design.
B2Gold has declared commercial production at the Fekola Mine based on an internal commercial production measure of 30 consecutive days of mill throughput at 65 percent or greater of nameplate capacity (607 dry tonnes per hour). During the 30 consecutive-day commercial test, the mill achieved an average throughput of 626 dry tonnes per hour. This included an availability for the mill of 95 percent (budget was 70 percent) for the test period and a recovery that exceeded 95 percent (budget was 91 percent).
The estimated overall production from the Fekola Mine for 2017 is now projected to be between 100,000 and 110,000 ounces. Commercial gold production in 2017 will include a projected 25,000 ounces in December 2017. This number is lower than the production in October and November 2017, due to a planned shutdown to finalize operational changes. The routine shutdown is expected to last six to seven days.
Based on the life of mine (LoM) plan in 2018, the first full year of Fekola production, the company is projecting production of approximately 400,000 to 410,000 ounces of gold from the Fekola Mine with low projected cash operating costs and AISC of approximately $354 per ounce and $609 per ounce, respectively.
For the first three years, the Fekola Mine is projected to produce approximately 400,000 ounces of gold annually at cash operating costs of $357 per ounce and AISC of $604 per ounce. For the first seven years, Fekola is projected to produce approximately 374,000 ounces of gold annually with cash operating costs of $391 per ounce and AISC of $643 per ounce. Over the initial ten-year LoM, Fekola is projected to produce an average of 345,000 ounces per annum at cash operating costs of $428 per ounce and AISC of $664 per ounce.
About B2Gold Corp.
Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, B2Gold Corp. is one of the fastest-growing intermediate gold producers in the world. Founded in 2007, today, B2Gold has five operating gold mines and numerous exploration and development projects in various countries including Nicaragua, the Philippines, Namibia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Colombia and Finland.
To stop by B2Gold’s website, CLICK HERE
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