The Kışladag gold mine within the Usak province, Turkey, is developed as an open-pit mine.
The mine is 100% owned and operated by Tuprag Metallic Madencilik Sanayi ve Ticaret, a subsidiary of Eldorado Gold.
The mine began industrial manufacturing in 2006. The Kışladag gold mine produced 38,990oz of gold within the second quarter of 2024.
Kışladag gold undertaking location
The Kışladag gold mine is located in west-central Turkey, roughly 180km inland from the Aegean coast, positioned between Izmir and Ankara. The location is situated 35km south-west of town of Uşak.
The undertaking space is roofed by a single operational licence, quantity 85995, encompassing a complete of 17,192ha.
Geology and mineralisation of the Kışladag mine
The Kışladag mine is a part of many tertiary volcanic complexes situated in western Turkey. The volcanic complexes had been fashioned on the base of schist alongside the north-east a part of the Menderes Massif metamorphic rocks.
The gold mineralisation primarily takes place inside monzonite intrusive rocks, that are emplaced inside and above the pre-Cretaceous Menderes metamorphic rocks. There may be minor deformation inside the Beydagı volcanic sequence in and across the deposit.
Many of the gold is present in sub-volcanic intrusives of quartz-syenite to quartz-monzonite composition and is accompanied by traces of zinc, copper and lead.
Reserves at Kışladag website
The confirmed and possible mineral reserves on the Kışladag gold mine are estimated at 176.5 million tonnes (mt) grading 0.67g/t of Au (Gold) as of September 2023. The contained metallic is estimated at 3,759oz of gold.
Mining technique at Kışladag
The Kışladag mine is developed as an open-pit mine utilizing drill, blast and haul mining strategies.
The mine consists of a lifetime of mine strip ratio of roughly 1.12:1 and the ore and waste are mined in 10m benches.
The mining is being carried out in 5 phases with the primary three phases already accomplished. Part IV strip again commenced in 2020 with operations slated to proceed until 2026. Part V stripping started in 2021, and the mining will proceed on this section till 2034.
The mining fleet contains seven diesel drills, two electrical drills, one 29m³ electrical hydraulic shovel, two 21m³ diesel hydraulic shovels, two 21.4m³ wheel loaders, one 12m³ wheel loader, 14 136 tonne (t) vehicles and ten 219t vehicles.
Ore processing at Kışladag
The run-of-mine (ROM) ore is subjected to main gyratory crushing, adopted by secondary crushing. The output from the secondary crusher is directed to the third stage crushing through a high-pressure grinding roll (HPGR) circuit.
The HPGR output is split into two fractions, the central lower and the sting lower. The central lower is transferred to the heap leach facility through the overland conveying system, whereas the sting lower is recirculated to the HPGR for a second spherical of crushing.
A bypass system is in place to divert materials to a 20,000t stockpile, facilitating upkeep of the overland conveyors. This stockpile is provided with a reclaim system that feeds again onto the preliminary overland conveyor. Materials is dozed as vital to produce the reclaim system.
The adsorption, desorption, and restoration (ADR) plant, contains 5 carbon column trains, every containing 5 columns. Gold is extracted from the pregnant resolution by adsorption onto activated carbon.
The carbon is then periodically eliminated for gold restoration. The gold is stripped from the carbon utilizing the usual Zadra course of, which includes strain stripping, electrowinning, and smelting to provide the ultimate gold doré bar.
Kışladag website infrastructure
The undertaking website might be accessed by way of a paved route roughly 5.3km lengthy and 10m extensive, connecting the mine website to the regional street between Ulubey and Esme.
Two energy strains provide electrical energy to the Kışladag website. The Turkish Electrical energy Transmission Company (TEIAS) supplies energy by way of a 27.7km lengthy 154kV transmission line from the Usak industrial zone.
Moreover, the unique energy line from the Turkish Electrical energy Distribution Company (TEDAS) supplies electrical energy through a 25km-long 34.5kV transmission line from the Usak industrial zone, supplying energy to a small portion of the amenities situated close to its route.
Recent water for the undertaking is sourced from a effectively area located 13km east of the plant website. 5 wells are presently in operation, with a pipeline delivering the water to the location. A dam was constructed in 2016 to function an extra reservoir to assist operations.
Contractors concerned
Hitachi Building Equipment was contracted to produce eight kinds of equipment, combining electrical motor-driven kind ultra-large hydraulic excavators and trolley-assist dump vehicles for the undertaking in October 2012. The corporate additionally delivered two EX3600 ultra-large hydraulic excavators in 2006.
Engineering, procurement and building administration (EPCM) firm Proccea was awarded the contract for the provision, set up and commissioning works for the undertaking’s ADR plant.