Tarkwa gold mine - Key developments and material issues
- Mineral Reserves decreased due to production (0.6Moz). Some ounces were gained due to innovative re-engineering of the pit designs and improved processing efficiencies and G&A cost
- Hydrothermal mineralisation style exploration continues across the broader concessions with the intent to define new higher-grade open pit ore sources
- Strict compliance to the mine plan, adherence to drill and blast protocols and geotechnical pit wall standards remain a key focus
- Options for in-pit waste dumping are being assessed
- Tarkwa's strategy is to return to a contractor mining model in 2018 after a comprehensive appraisal of the owner versus contractor models with the objective of controlling cost increases, leveraging cash-flow and NPV and reducing the AIC/oz metric. However, the current LoM plan is based on the owner mining model
- If the contractor model is implemented it may have a short-term impact on mining productivity during the change-over in 2018, potentially from a slow start-up or possibly industrial or legal action. Operational impacts can be partly mitigated from utilising a higher percentage of stockpiles to be processed during the transition period
