Gold mineralisation in the AGM area is hosted in Birimian metasediments and basin type granites and is associated with major northeast striking, 5 to 40m wide graphite-chlorite-sericite fault zones. In particular, gold mineralisation is developed where the northeast fault zones intersect major east to northeast striking fault zones, and especially where they are recognised to have influenced granite emplacement, alteration and Au geochemical trends.

The AGM area contains six major systems of gold bearing quartz veins hosted by tightly folded and foliated Birimian-age altered sedimentary rocks, and basin type granites within several well defined parallel structural corridors. The host rock package includes shale, siltstones, granites, and lesser feldspathic sandstones. The sedimentary packages are moderately to strongly folded and foliated with shale generally displaying better development of foliation than siltstone.

The mining method for the four active Asanko ore bodies utilises contract miners and is conventional open pit, truck and shovel and drill and blast operations. Vegetation, topsoil and overburden are stripped and stockpiled for future reclamation use. The ore and waste rock are mined with 6m benches, drilled, blasted and loaded into rigid framed haul trucks (94t) with hydraulic excavators (17m³). The primary mining fleet of trucks and excavators is supported by standard open pit drilling and auxiliary equipment. Grade control drilling ahead of mining is standard practice. Mining operations occur around the clock on two 12-hour shifts. A pre-split wall control method is being implemented along all the pit walls in the fresh zones to ensure the stability of the pit walls.

The Asanko Phase 1 processing plant design is based on a typical single stage crushing, SAG and SABC followed by a CIL plant, to treat 3 million tonnes per annum of material sources from the Obotan pits. The flow sheet includes a single stage jaw crusher that can either feed onto a live stockpile or directly into an open circuit SAG, (complete with pebble crusher) and ball milling unit in closed circuit with classification cyclones. A gravity recovery circuit will be utilised to treat a portion of the cyclone underflow stream to recover coarse free gold from the recirculating load.

The milled product, (cyclone overflow) will gravitate to a pre-leach thickener, via a trash removal screen. Thickener underflow will be pumped directly to a pre-oxidation stage followed by a seven stage CIL plant. Leached gold will adsorb onto activated carbon, which flows counter-currently to the gold bearing slurry. Loaded carbon will be directed to the elution circuit while tailings will gravitate to cyanide destruction. Cyanide in the CIL tailings will be detoxified using a three phase hybrid cyanide destruction process.

Phase 2 of the Asanko Gold Mine (AGM) Project includes the addition of a 5 Mpta flotation plant consisting of a ROM handling and two stage crushing circuit located at the Esaase mining site, followed by an overland conveying circuit to transport the crushed material to the Obotan processing site where the gravity recovery, milling, flotation, concentrate regrind and CIL circuits will be located. Provision is made for intermediate stockpiling and interlinking conveyors between the AGM Phase 1 whole ore leach circuit and the AGM Phase 2 flotation circuit expansion to allow for optimisation of the different ore types to be fed to either of the two processing facilities, in order to optimise recoveries and processing plant operating costs for the different ore types.