B2Gold Announces $50 Million Expansion of Fekola Gold Mine

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Canadian miner B2Gold Corp. approved investment of $50 million towards expansion of its Fekola gold mine, located in southwest Mali, on the border between Mali and Senegal, approximately 500 km due west of the capital city, Bamako. The investment aims to boost the processing throughput by 25% from current 6 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) to nearly 7.5 Mtpa. Further, the expansion will lead to production of more gold over a longer life.

The total estimated capital cost of $50 million for the expansion project will be evenly split between 2019 and 2020. The upgrade will mainly focus on boosting ball mill power. It also comprises of upgrades to other components including a new cyclone classification system, pebble crushers and additional leach capacity. The ball mill motors and the lime slaker are expected to be commissioned in Q3 next year. B2Gold also plans to add a solar power plant, which in turn would reduce operating costs and minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

The Expansion Study Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the Fekola mine had declared positive results. The result of the study recommended an expansion of the existing plant to process an additional 1.5 Mtpa, without requiring an additional ball mill or additional power generation capacity.

The full-year 2018 commercial gold production from Fekola mine had exceeded B2Gold’s expectations of 430,000 ounces to total 439,068 ounces.