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Burkina Faso
Bissa-Bouly Operation (Bissa Mine, Bouly Mine)

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 Location:
88 km N from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

  Regional Office:
11 BP 1229 CMS OUAGA 11 783 Rue de la Chambre de Commerce
15 618 commune de Ouagadougou Ouaga 2000
Burkina Faso
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  • Overview
  • Owners
  • Geology
  • Mining
  • Processing
  • Production
  • Reserves
  • Costs & Financials
  • Personnel
  • Filings & News

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Overview

StageProduction
Mine TypeOpen Pit
Commodities
  • Gold
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Processing
  • Calcining
  • Smelting
  • Heap leach
  • Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
  • Carbon in leach (CIL)
  • Carbon adsorption-desorption-recovery (ADR)
  • AARL elution
  • Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
  • Cyanide (reagent)
Mine Life18 years (as of Jan 1, 2016)


Owners

Source: p. 129, 130
CompanyInterestOwnership
Government of Burkina Faso 10 % Indirect
Nord Gold plc 90 % Indirect
Bissa Gold SA (operator) 100 % Direct
Bissa Gold SA, which owns both the Bissa and the Bouly mines, is 90% owned by Nordgold through High River Gold Mines Ltd. and 10% state owned (under law).

Deposit Type

  • Porphyry
  • Vein / narrow vein
  • Orogenic


Summary:

The Bissa and Bouly gold deposits all occur within an approximate 90 km NW-SE zone, comprising Birimian volcano-sedimentary rocks of the Boromo greenstone belt. The belt consists of mafic volcanic rock, minor felsic volcanic rock and extensive sedimentary units, intruded by Eburnean granitoids, all of which have undergone incipient to low greenschist facies metamorphism (Huot and Sattran, 1987).

The Bissa Hill, SW, IOSE, Z51, Z52 and Boken Zandkom deposits all fall within an approximate 9km NE-SW oriented corridor (“the Bissa-Zandkom corridor”) in the northeastern portion of the Boromo greenstone belt. This corridor comprises a series of interbedded argillaceousarenaceous sediments, alongside sequences of mafic volcanic rock. The thick metasedimentary sequence represents the principal host to mineralisation. Structurally, the lithological assemblage at Bissa-Zandkom appears to be tightly folded, with a broad NE to ENE trend, and is offset by several large-scale faults that trend NW-SE. At least two phases of deformation can be identified at the mine-scale, including an earlier D1 and later D2, resulting in a re-folded fold sequence.

Bouly, which lies to the southeast of Bissa, appears to represent a large, low grade gold-copper porphyry.

The Bouly deposit, approximately 9 km east of the Bissa-Zandkom corridor, is hosted by shear zones within metamorphosed metavolcanics, diorites and porphyritic diorites. The volcanosedimentary sequence is well foliated, with a NE-SW striking fabric. The meta-volcanics are intruded, and mostly replaced, by later diorite, granodiorite and porphyritic diorite bodies, which are not well foliated except in areas where extensive shearing has occurred. As per the BokenZandkom corridor, two phases of deformation are recognised. The earliest deformation phase is associated with NW striking, moderately SW dipping thrust structures. The second deformation phase is associated with NE striking, steeply SE dipping strike slip structures.

Mineralisation at the Bissa and Bouly deposits is primarily orogenic and structurally controlled, with a secondary lithological control. The most significant mineralised zones are associated with anastomosing networks of quartz and quartz-carbonate veins (or stacked, parallel “arrays” of veins) developed within major brittle-ductile shear zones. Two main types of mineralised veins are recognised within the deposits of the Bissa-Zandkom corridor; namely a) the main gold-bearing quartz veins in the central part of steep shear zones, which are often axial planar shears; and b) complex vein systems of gently inclined and steep extensional fractures, developed both within the shear zones barren wall rocks, and along folded bedding planes and lithological contacts. Similar mineralisation styles are observed across the Bissa-Bouly deposits.

Gold mineralisation is most commonly developed in either quartz-sulphide veining ± carbonates and tourmaline, or disseminated and fracture filling sulphides and magnetite. Across most deposits, the primary sulphide species is pyrite, with minor chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite and very rare native gold.

Boken Zandkom, IOSE, SW, Bissa Hill and Yimiougou all strike NE-SW, dipping moderatelysteeply to the NW. Bouly, Z51 and Z52 are also NE-SW striking, but dip steeply to the SE. All of the deposits of the Bissa-Zandkom corridor have a moderate north-easterly mineralisation plunge. Trends associated with the satellite deposits of Zinigma, Samtenga, Ronguen and Gougre are varied.

As is typical in the region, the Bissa and Bouly deposits are variably oxidised. The oxidation sequence typically comprises a thin (0 to 20 m) lateritic layer at surface, which overlies a welldeveloped oxidised saprolitic zone. This normally progresses into a transitional zone, comprising a mixture of saprolite and fresh bedrock, with un-altered fresh rock typically around 50 m to 125 m below surface. Secondary enrichment of gold within the laterite layer is common.


Mining Methods

  • Truck & Shovel / Loader


Summary:

The operation envisages open pit mining, utilising drill & blast with a truck and shovel approach to ore and waste haulage.


Crushing and Grinding

BISSA
Crushing
RoM ore is screened at 800 mm on a stationary grizzly, with oversized broken using a rockbreaker. The primary crusher is a Metso C140 jaw crusher operating with a nominal CSS of 170 mm. The crusher is preceded by a 150 mm aperture vibrating grizzly.

Grinding
The first grinding stage consists of a 8.5 x 4.35 m SAG mill (6000 kW) that is closed with a 10 mm slotted aperture screen. A Pebble Crusher was installed in 2014 crushing a recycle rate of approximately 12%. Screen undersize reports to the 6.1 x 9.05 m (6000 kW) ball mill, which operates in closed circuit with a bank of 380 mm cyclones

BOULY
Ore is crushed to a target 100% -45 mm 80% -21 mm using two parallel trains, each train consisting of a single Metso C140 jaw crusher, preceded by a vibrating grizzly with a nominal 102 mm aperture, followed by a single Metso HP800 cone crusher preceded by a double deck screen with apertures 80 mm and 25 mm.


Processing

  • Calcining
  • Smelting
  • Heap leach
  • Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
  • Carbon in leach (CIL)
  • Carbon adsorption-desorption-recovery (ADR)
  • AARL elution
  • Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
  • Cyanide (reagent)

Source: Subscription required

Summary:

The Bouly process plant treats low grade non-refractory oxidised saprolite and transitional saprock hosted gold ore by heap leaching, with gold doré produced at the Bissa plant. The plant commenced production in 2016 with a design production rate of 7.5 Mtpa of ore.

Heap Leaching
Cement is added from storage soils to the crushed ore at a typical rate of 10 kg/t, and the ore is then agglomerated using a 4.6 m diameter, 14.0 m long agglomeration drum, to which is added barren leach solution at a nominal rate of 115 L/t of ore. The ore is then transported to the leach pad using a series of overland conveyors, feeding onto mobile grasshopper conveyors and finally to a radial stacker. The lift height is 10 – 12 m and the pads are designed to ultimately consist of four lifts with potential to stack up to six lifts being investigated. An interlift liner and drainage are installed for each lift. Leach solution is applied using wobbler sprinklers. The nominal leach cycle is 150 ........

Recoveries & Grades:

CommodityParameter20162015
Gold Recovery Rate, % 86.986.9
Gold Head Grade, g/t 1.111.94

Production:

CommodityUnits20192018201720162015
Gold koz  ......  Subscription required262320214235
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Operational Metrics:

Metrics20162015
Ore tonnes mined 7,466 kt4,545 kt
Tonnes processed 7,476 kt4,097 kt

Reserves at December 31, 2020:

CategoryTonnage CommodityGradeContained Metal
Proven 18.86 Mt Gold 0.61 g/t 369 koz
Probable 80.027 Mt Gold 0.67 g/t 1,730 koz
Proven & Probable 98.887 Mt Gold 0.66 g/t 2,101 koz
Measured 28.078 Mt Gold 0.74 g/t 671 koz
Indicated 222.721 Mt Gold 0.67 g/t 4,829 koz
Measured & Indicated 250.799 Mt Gold 0.68 g/t 5,500 koz
Inferred 130.522 Mt Gold 0.59 g/t 2,461 koz
Total Resource 381.321 Mt Gold 0.65 g/t 7,960 koz

Commodity Production Costs:

CommodityUnits202020192018201720162015
Total cash costs Gold USD  ......  Subscription required†  ......  Subscription required† 743 / oz† 609 / oz† 659 / oz† 493 / oz†
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) Gold USD  ......  Subscription required†  ......  Subscription required† 992 / oz† 744 / oz† 828 / oz† 584 / oz†
† Net of By-Product.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Financials:

Units202020192018201720162015
Capital expenditures M USD  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required85.6   43.6   138.6   106  
Revenue M USD  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required330.8   402.9  
EBITDA M USD  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required136.8   209.6   119.5   157.9  
Operating Cash Flow M USD 95.1   128.9  
Subscription required - Subscription is required


Heavy Mobile Equipment:

Mine Management:

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 5, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 5, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 5, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 5, 2021
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Staff:

EmployeesYear
Subscription required 2020
Subscription required 2019
Subscription required 2018
Subscription required 2017
Subscription required 2016

Corporate Filings & Presentations:

DocumentYear
................................... Subscription required 2020
................................... Subscription required 2019
Annual Report 2018
Annual Report 2017
Integrated Report 2016
Technical Report 2012
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Aerial view:

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