Today's announcement was fantastic, I don't think there's anything to add to what has already been written.
What is of utmost importance is we transition from mining the tailings to mining the satellites, then ultimately the main pit.
Good to see we have 2 rigs doing infill drilling on those satellites.
I've been going thru some old BGS announcements to see how long we can expect it'll take to get our satellites producing based on how long it took Rangold to produce from the 2 satellites we sold them. I'll summarise it initially, then provide a more detailed summary below.
Applied for the mining license for Viper & N'tiola in Sept 2017, approved in Jan 2018 subject to Prime Mininster assent.
(as far as I'm aware, we still have that mining license, but will need one for Koting)
By 30th April while still awaiting the prime Ministers assent, in the interim Rangold completed the haul road from the satellites to Morilla, and constructed a tailings dam.
On 25th may they received the mining license.
Expected to commence mining N'tiola in June 2018, no mention as to the actual date they started.
On 18th Aug we received our 1st royalty for gold produced in the June Quarter. processing of ore mined at N’tiola, was 17,856 oz
So Rangold was fully prepared with mine plans, tailings dam, and haul roads when they received the mining license on May 25th.
They expected to start mining in June, and in the month of June produced 17,856oz
So it took them less than a month to go from an unprepared site (like Koting is at present) to mining & processing.
What is also of interest, is with less than a month of satellite mining, the tailings head grade was increased from about 0.5 oz/t to 1.52oz/t for the Quarter.
With 91% recovery from the satellites combined with the higher head grade, gold production increased significantly.
We thought 4200oz for Dec was good, that will be blitzed when the satellites come online.
Based on the above, once we finish the infill drilling, analyse the results and produce a mining plan, mining of the satellites will only take a matter of weeks to commence.
Today we announced "Significant progress has been made on mine plans, costs and timelines..." so I don't think the satellite mining will be far away at all.
28/2/17
We entered into an agreement with Rangold/Morila to sell Viper & N'tiola for a fee & royalty on mining.
"Randgold’s exploration team has completed the phase one evaluation drilling programme on both the Ntiola and Viper targets.
Work continues on confirming the geological models of these deposits prior to taking a decision to exercise the option to mine"
31/1/18
Applied to extend the mining license to the satellites in Sept '17. It was approved but was awaiting the Prime Ministers assent. This is delayed because of a new Prime Ministership & cabinet. Morila has been mining a satellite deposit at Domba village, located some six kilometres from Morila’s treatment plant. Subject to obtaining a revised mining permit, Morila intends extending its haul road from Domba to Viper and N’tiola, which are located about 25 km north-west of Morila’s treatment plant and commencing mining at Viper and N’tiola during the first half of 2018
30/4/18
Randgold Resources plc (Randgold), manager of the Morila Joint Venture, has advised Birimian that Société des Mines de Morila SA (Morila) is ready to commence mining of the N’tiola and Viper gold deposits in southern Mali.
...the necessary decree modifying Morila’s Exploitation Permit was awaiting Prime Ministerial assent. The order is with the Prime Minister’s office. Randgold has advised that mining operations will commence as soon as the decree is published and Morila anticipates receiving approval in the very near future. Meanwhile, Morila has extended a haul road from its treatment plant to N’tiola and Viper and completed construction of a waste storage dam at the site.
25/5/18
Received Prime Ministers assent & mining license granted
7/6/18
Morila spent US$1.9M on N’tiola and Viper Areas of Interest in 2017 and a further US$0.7M in the first quarter of 2018. The company has completed resources evaluation, mine scheduling and pit optimisation for N’tiola and Viper, as well as a 24.2km haul road from the deposits to the Morila treatment plant. Morila completed mining of its Domba satellite deposit in February 2018 and is expected to commence operations at N’tiola this month, with mining to continue at N’tiola and Viper for an estimated 8 months.
10/8/18
the Company has received its first Net Smelter Royalty (NSR) payment of US$280,428 (A$377,122) from Société des Mines de Morila SA (Morila) for gold produced at the N’tiola Area of Interest (N’tiola) during the June Quarter 2018.
Randgold reported that a total of 161,000t of ore was treated from pit material mined at N’tiola during the Quarter, at a grade of 1.52g/t. Morila’s total gold production for the Quarter, predominantly comprising retreatment of tailings material as well as processing of ore mined at N’tiola, was 17,856 oz.
