Gold Fields

Damang is located in south-western Ghana, approximately 300km by road west of Accra, the capital, at latitude 5°11’ N, longitude 1°57’ W. The Damang concession lies to the north of and joins the Tarkwa concession, which is located near the town of Tarkwa. The area is served by access roads with established infrastructure, and a main road connects the mine to the port of Takoradi, some 90km to the south-east.

The Damang concession covers a total area of 23,666ha. All necessary statutory mining authorisations and permits are in place for the Damang mine lease, and Abosso Goldfields is entitled to mine all material falling within the lease. Abosso Goldfields holds a mining lease in respect of the Damang mine dated 19 April 1995, as amended by an agreement dated 4 April 1996. This lease expires in 2025, but is renewable under its terms and the provisions of the Minerals and Mining Law, by agreement between Abosso Goldfields and the Government of Ghana.

The Damang plant processes mainly fresh ore with approximately 5% oxides, which is sourced from five open pit mining operations and existing surface stockpiles, located on the Damang mine lease.

The plant has been upgraded from 4.0Mtpa to 4.2Mtpa and is a conventional two-stage grinding circuit using a SAG and ball mill combination, with pebble crusher and gravity concentration, followed by a carbon-in-leach recovery process. Gravity gold is collected and treated by the Knelson Gravity concentrators and an in-line leach reactor.

The East tailings storage facility (ETSF), with additional lifts, supports the LoM plan to Q4 2017 and then beyond that until 2023, tailings are catered for by the Far East tailings storage facility (FETSF) where permitting is already in place for the initial placement. The FETSF is scheduled for commissioning in January 2018.

A tropical climate, characterised by two distinct rainy seasons from March to July and September to November. Average annual rainfall in the area is in excess of 2,200mm. Although there may be minor disruptions to operations during the wet season, there is no operating or long-term constraint on production due to climate.

The Damang ore body is hosted by a north-easterly plunging antiform, developed within Tarkwaian sediments. The main Damang pit is located near to the closure of the antiform, and all other known palaeoplacer mineralisation is located on the east and west limbs of the Damang anticline. Damang exploits a combination of hydrothermal and palaeoplacer mineralisation.

Three gold-bearing conglomerate horizons separated by poorly mineralised sandstone units are recognised on the western limb of the Damang anticline, known as the Star/Composite, Malta/Breccia and Gulder Reefs. These reefs can be correlated in the eastern limb but historically have different nomenclature, namely the Lima, Kwesie-K1 and
Kwesie-K2 Reefs.

Hydrothermal gold mineralisation at Damang occurs in pyrite and pyrrhotite alteration selvages, which are usually less than one metre wide and located immediately adjacent to en-echelon quartz veins. Gold is also associated with accessory vein minerals such as carbonate, muscovite, tourmaline, ilmenite and apatite. These alteration zones are often linked, and may result in significant volumes, characterised by intense veining and gold mineralisation.

It is estimated that the current Mineral Reserve will be depleted in 2025 (eight years).