Goldplat upgrades Ghana operations to produce gold bullion

Africa operating gold and platinum miner Goldplat updated the market on its operations today, reporting that instillation of intensitve cyanidation plants in Ghana and South Africa was set to commence to help cut transport and processing costs, while the company’s wholly own Kilimapesa Gold was one step away from securing the mining lease for the Kilimapesa gold project in Kenya.

The company said gold operations continued to perform strongly in South Africa and Ghana as the design work for intensive cyanidation plants was finished in both countries and instillation was due to commence imminently.

In a press statement copied to theghanaianjournal.com, it stated that as a result, the company will sell its gold predominantly in the form of a bullion bar as opposed to concentrates, allowing for cost savings in transport and processing costs, also positively impacting the cash flow as payment for bullion is received within a few days compared to a few months for concentrates.

In Ghana, Goldplat is progressing with the design and purchase of an elution plant to enable exports in bullions as opposed in loaded carbon and has also commissioned an incinerator and has produced ash with grades exceeding 600 g/t (grammes per tonne) gold from relatively low rate material.

The relationship with the Ghanian officials remained “excellent” as the company is focusing on developing its business with major producers operating in the country and was reviewing opportunities to acquire a mining project in Ghana.

“The processing operations in South Africa and Ghana are generating significant cash through the optimisation and expansion of the recovery plants. We are delighted by the progress being made and will, according to our business model, look to utilise this cash flow to expand our project portfolio into primary production projects. Accordingly we are evaluating additional opportunities that we believe have the potential to materially impact the company’s performance moving forward,” said Chief Executive of Goldplat Demetri Manolis.

Meanwhile, the Kilimapesa Hill gold mining project is closing in on commercial production as its wholly owned Kilimapesa Gold has made “excellent progress” with the application for the mining lease for the project, having secured approval from the Commissioner of Mines and Geology and now only requiring the final ratification by the Minister of Environment and resources.

Goldplat recently bought out the 50% stake in Kilimapesa held by JV (joint venture) partner International Gold Exploration (IGE) for US$2.7 million.

In its first JORC-compliant estimate for the project, Goldplat reported a Measured and Indicated resource of 401,000 tonnes graded at 2.39 g/t (grammes per tonne) of gold for 31,416 ounces and 1.24 million tonnes at 2.43 g/t gold for 98,000 ounces, with an additional Measured and Indicated resource of 41,000 tonnes at 2.56 g/t gold for 3,400 ounces making for a total underground resource of1.65million tonnes at 2.44 g/t gold at 2.44 g/t for 129,000 ounces at a cut-off grade of 1 g/t for all categories.

Credit: Sergei Balashov company