Mining Intelligence and News
Ghana

Akyem Mine

Click for more information

Categories

Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Gold
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start... Lock
SnapshotBased on a comprehensive review of the Company’s portfolio of assets following the Newcrest acquisition, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a portfolio optimization program to divest six non-core assets and a development project in February 2024. The non-core assets to be divested include Akyem, CC&V, Éléonore, Porcupine, Musselwhite, Telfer, and a development project in Canada. In February 2024, the Company concluded that these non-core assets and the development project met the accounting requirements to be presented as Held for Sale in the first quarter of 2024, based on progress made through active sales program and management’s expectation that the sale is probable and will be completed within 12 months.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Newmont Corp. 100 % Indirect
Newmont Golden Ridge Ltd. (operator) 100 % Direct
The Akyem Mine is 100% owned by Newmont through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Newmont Golden Ridge Limited.

Contractors

Lock

- subscription is required.

Deposit type

  • Orogenic
  • Vein / narrow vein

Summary:

The Akyem mine is an orogenic gold deposit that has oxide and primary mineralization.

The Akyem deposit is localized in the hanging wall (upper side or plate) of a regional fault that trends to the northeast (N70°E) parallel to regional structures and dips to the southeast (S60°E) parallel to the foliation developed in a Birimian host rock. The planar fault structure (thrust fault)[11,12] is intensely sheared and exhibits a mylonitic to cataclastic fragmental texture consisting of lens of metavolcanic fragments in a matrix of sheared and plastically deformed graphitic material. The presence of graphitic rubble zones suggests reactivation of the fault zone over time. The fault occurs in fine grained, gray green massive to locally sheared Birimian mafic metavolcanic rocks exhibiting chlorite and carbonate alteration that locally contain euhedral magnetite. Immediately overlying the metavolcanics is a distinctive gray green pink unit containing blue quartz phenocrysts in a mylonitic matrix (quartz epiclastic rock). The upper and lower contacts of this unit are typically sheared and brecciated, and the upper contact of this unit is locally in sharp contact with overlying light gray tan chert. This unit is considered sedimentary and represents a distinctive marker between the metavolcanic and metasedimentary units of the Birimian. The overlying metasedimentary rocks are for the most part turbidite sequences consisting of graywacke, argillites, black carbonaceous siltstone, and fine grained arkosic sandstones. This unit grades upward into a saprolitically weathered zone (deeply weathered bedrock largely altered to clay) that ranges from 10 to 50 m thick. The saprolite consists of lateritic clay and quartz fragments with as much as 25% weathered rock remaining within the saprolite. Near the surface, in the upper 1–5 m, red lateritic clay is developed as subsoil.

The gold is found in shear zones within greenschist-facies metasediments that have kilometer-scale vertical and lateral extent. Gold occurs primarily in pyrite and secondarily as native gold in quartz veins.

Reserves

Lock

- subscription is required.

Mining Methods

Lock

- subscription is required.

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Lock

- subscription is required.

Processing

Lock

- subscription is required.

Production

In 2023, gold production decreased 30% primarily due to lower ore grade milled and lower mill throughput as a result of re-sequencing the mine plan and temporarily suspending mining in the main pit to make safety improvements and fortify the catch berms above the haul road into the pit.
CommodityUnits2024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Gold koz  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe422414473470473
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré. ^ Guidance / Forecast.

Operational metrics

Metrics202320222021202020192018201720162015
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe12,845 k tons11,709 k tons9,058 k tons9,899 k tons10,325 k tons
Waste  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe22,842 k tons23,966 k tons26,169 k tons26,639 k tons25,507 k tons
Total tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe35,687 k tons35,675 k tons35,227 k tons36,538 k tons35,832 k tons
Tonnes processed  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe8,660 k tons8,566 k tons9,273 k tons9,276 k tons7,991 k tons
Daily mining rate  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe88 kt91 kt91 kt90 kt
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe7.7 Mt8.5 Mt8.5 Mt8.5 Mt

Production Costs

CommodityUnits20242023202220212020201920182017
Credits (by-product) Gold USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe -3 / oz  
Cash costs (sold) Gold USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 524 / oz  
Total cash costs (sold) Gold USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 558 / oz **   546 / oz **   573 / oz **  
All-in sustaining costs (sold) Gold USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 718 / oz **   705 / oz **   664 / oz **  
^ Guidance / Forecast.
** Net of By-Product.

Financials

Units20242023202220212020201920182017
Capital expenditures (planned) M USD  ....  Subscribe
Sustaining costs M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 28   40   26  
Capital expenditures M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 33   40   26  
Revenue M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 585  
Pre-tax Income M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 176   125   152  

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Lock

- subscription is required.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameEmailProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 9, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ........... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 9, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 9, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ........... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 9, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 9, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 9, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 9, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 9, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 9, 2024

Total WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required 2022
...... Subscription required 2018
...... Subscription required 2017
...... Subscription required 2016
...... Subscription required 2015

Aerial view:

Lock

- subscription is required.