Mining of the Doropo project will be undertaken utilising medium-scale using open pit mining equipment (90 t haul trucks, 150 t to 300 t hydraulic excavators) typical for West Africa. The mining process will be based on a conventional drill, blast, load and haul operation, with an allowance for 50% of the oxide material to be free-dig (i.e., not require drilling and blasting) utilising the large excavator. Mining areas of disturbance (i.e., pits, dumps, roads etc.) will be cleared of vegetation and topsoil which will be stockpiled for subsequent rehabilitation purposes. Centamin will have a management and technical team which will supervise the mining contract and undertake all technical activities such as grade control, survey and mine planning.
A Life of Mine (LOM) mining schedule was generated detailing the movement of ore and waste on 5 m mining benches for a mine life of approximately 10 years. This includes haulage of the ore from the satellite pits (Han, Kekeda, Enioda and Kilosegui) to the process plant located at Souwa. The schedule indicates that the design process feed rate can be met for the entire mine life.
Operating Strategy
The Doropo Gold Project is a multi-pit project that consists of seven deposits. They can be considered as:
• A hub of three deposits adjacent to the proposed processing facility comprising Souwa, Nokpa, Chegue Main / Chegue South.
• Four satellite pits, being Kekeda, Han, Enioda and Kilosegui, be ........