Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Processing |
- Dense media separation
- Carbon in pulp (CIP)
- Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
- Cyanide (reagent)
|
Mine Life | 2028 |
AngloGold Ashanti sold the Navachab mine in July 2014 to a wholly-owned subsidiary of QKR Corporation Limited. Mine production data has not been publicly available since then. |
Source:
AngloGold Ashanti sold the Navachab mine in July 2014 to a wholly-owned subsidiary of QKR Corporation Limited.
Summary:
The Navachab gold deposit is located in the Pan-African Damara Orogen and hosted by greenschist-amphibolite facies calc-silicates, marbles and volcaniclastic rocks. The rocks have been intruded by granite, pegmatite and aplitic dykes and have also been deformed into a series of alternating dome and basin-like structures.
The mineralisation at Navachab forms a sheet-like body which plunges at an angle of approximately 20° to the northwest. The mineralisation is predominantly hosted in a sheeted quartz vein set (approximately 60% of tonnage) and a replacement skarn (approximately 40% of tonnage). The mineralisation in the main pit is hosted by a northeast to southwest striking metamorphosed sequence of calc-silicates, marbles and volcaniclastic rocks that dip at 70° to the west. The gold is very fine-grained and associated with pyrrhotite and minor amounts of pyrite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, maldonite and bismuthinite. An estimated 90% of the gold occurs as free gold and the remainder is present in minerals such as maldonite (Au2Bi). Silver is also present with a gold to silver ratio of approximately 15 to 1.
Summary:
The total mining function, including drilling, blasting, loading, and haulage of ore and waste, is the responsibility of the mining contractor. The concept of a mining contractor, common in other parts of the world, was adopted because of the unfavourable impact on the viability of the project of the additional front-end capital needed for inhouse mining.
Processing
- Dense media separation
- Carbon in pulp (CIP)
- Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
- Cyanide (reagent)
Source:
Summary:
Navachab is mined as an open-pit mine with a CIP plant that has a production capacity of 120,000 tonnes per month (tpm). The plant includes mills, CIP and electro winning facilities. A dense-media separation (DMS) plant with a 200 tonnes per hour (tph) capacity was commissioned during 2010 and a portion of the CIP feed comes from this pre-concentration plant.
In view of the coarse nature of the vein-related gold and the fineness of the disseminated pyrrhotite hosted gold, plane tables were installed below the mill. The entire mill discharge passes over the tables, where a gold concentrate is produced. This concentrate is then passed over an endless belt, where further upgrading occurs. The endless-belt concentrate is leached in an intensive cyanid ation reactor.
Recoveries & Grades:
Commodity | Parameter | 2013 | 2012 |
Gold
|
Head Grade, g/t
| 1.39 | 1.59 |
Production:
Commodity | Units | 2013 | 2012 |
Gold
|
koz
| 63 | 74 |
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2013 |
Tonnes milled
| 1.4 Mt |
Reserves at December 31, 2013:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven & Probable
|
46.34 Mt
|
Gold
|
1.29 g/t
|
1.92 M oz
|
Total Resource
|
103.96 Mt
|
Gold
|
1.17 g/t
|
3.91 M oz
|
Commodity Production Costs:
| Commodity | Units | 2013 |
Total cash costs
|
Gold
|
USD
|
691 / oz
|
All-in sustaining costs (AISC)
|
Gold
|
USD
|
781 / oz
|
Financials:
| Units | 2013 |
Capital expenditures
|
M USD
|
5
|
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