The Kiaka gold mission situated within the south-east a part of Burkina Faso in West Africa is being developed as an open-pit mine.
West African Assets (WAF) holds a 90% stake in Kiaka whereas the Authorities of Burkina Faso retains the remaining 10% curiosity. West African Assets acquired its stake within the mission from B2Gold and their associate, GAM S-Mining in November 2021.
The feasibility examine for the mission was accomplished in August 2022. An up to date feasibility examine was introduced in July 2024.
The mission has an estimated life-of-mine of 19.5 years, with an preliminary capital funding of $565.6m.
The mission is estimated to have an annual manufacturing capability of 258,000oz within the first 5 years. Annual manufacturing will common 234,000oz over the mine life.
The primary manufacturing is scheduled for the third quarter (Q3) of 2025.
Kiaka gold mission location
The Kiaka gold mission is situated 45km south of WAF’s flagship Sanbrado Gold mission in Burkina Faso and about 110km southeast of the capital Ouagadougou.
The mission lies inside a mining allow of an space of 54km².
Geology and mineralisation
The Kiaka deposit is situated inside the Decrease Proterozoic rocks on the confluence of the Tenkedogo Greenstone Belt and the Markoye Fault zone within the southern a part of Burkina Faso.
The deposit lies beneath a layer of saprolite that may be as much as 20m thick, with the first prevalence of gold mineralisation discovered within the underlying recent rock.
The Kiaka gold mission encompasses the Kiaka Foremost and Kiaka South deposits, with the Kiaka Foremost deposit holding over 98% of the ore reserve.
The gold mineralisation happens within the tightly folded and sheared mafic volcanic and volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks. The gold mineralisation is current inside a shear zone that dips sub-vertically to steeply in the direction of the southwest.
Reserves
The possible reserve on the Kiaka gold mission is estimated to be 164.1 million tonnes (t), grading 0.9g/t of gold with 4.76 million ounces in contained gold, as of July 2024.
Mining methodology
The mining operations might be carried out utilizing standard open-pit mining strategies with a strip ratio of 1.8: 1.
Owing to the intensive mineralised zone, some blasting might be performed on 10m benches whereas extra selective areas would require blasting on 5m benches.
The operational framework encompasses drilling and blasting close to the floor.
The parameters for drilling and blasting have been chosen to handle the comparatively exhausting rock mass traits and the precision wanted for ore extraction.
The Kiaka Foremost pit could have a most size of 2km and a width of 900m with a most depth of 460m. A minor sub-pit might be situated on the southern finish, which might be mined independently.
The principle pit might be mined in three pit phases to cut back waste mining whereas offering barely higher-grade ore.
The smaller Kiaka South pit will measure 650m x 350m in size and width with a depth of 130m.
The mining fleet will encompass a mixture of Caterpillar 6015 (140t class) and 6020 (230t class) hydraulic excavators, which might be paired with Caterpillar 777 (95t class) haul vehicles.
Additionally, a mix of prime hammer (Sandvik Panterra DP1500) and down-the-hole hammer (Sandvik Leopard DI650) drill rigs might be utilised.
Ore processing
The Kiaka course of plant is ready to have a nameplate throughput of seven million tonnes every year (mtpa) and can function with an availability of 8,000 hours yearly.
Its nominal capability is 875 tonnes per hour.
The manufacturing schedule for the mine anticipates that 60% of the ore might be straight tipped whereas the remaining 40% might be rehandled into the crusher utilizing a front-end loader.
The method plant will embrace a number of circuits: a major gyratory crushing circuit with a designed throughput of 1,229 dry tonnes per hour.
The open stockpile for crushed product with a complete capability of 57,000t, and three apron feeders in a reclaim tunnel will provide ore to the milling circuit by way of a conveyor.
Moreover, there might be an emergency reclaim system with a devoted apron feeder subsequent to the stockpile.
A grinding circuit comprising Semi-Autogenous Grinding, ball, and Pebble Crushing has been modelled to course of 8.4mtpa.
Additional options embrace a high-rate leach feed thickener to enhance classification effectivity within the milling circuit and scale back the leaching circuit’s quantity wants.
A pre-oxidation tank, complemented by an oxygen plant and proprietary oxygen injection know-how, will deal with the thickener underflow.
The carbon-in-leach circuit will encompass eight leach-adsorption tanks, making certain a 36-hour residence time for the ore.
For steel restoration and refining, the plant could have a break up Anglo American Analysis Laboratories elution circuit, electrowinning cells, and a smelting facility.
The tailings storage facility might be constructed 0.5km north-east of the method plant.
Website infrastructure
The mission is accessible by way of the N5 street from Ouagadougou to Manga adopted additional by a 40km laterite gravel street to the property.
Energy might be provided by connecting to the nationwide grid operated by SONABEL.
Probably the most possible connection level is a junction from the present 225kV transmission line that runs from Ghana to Ouagadougou.
Uncooked water might be sourced from the Bagre dam on the Nakambe river, situated roughly 3km east of Kiaka.
A 304-person lodging camp might be constructed 0.5km to the south-west of the processing plant.
Contractors concerned
The method plant design was ready by engineering, building, and administration companies supplier Lycopodium Minerals.