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Revised Plan Helps Rosebel's Gold Output

Posted on: Saturday, 1 April 2006, 03:02 CST

By Anonymous

A revised mine plan helped Cambior's Rosebel gold mine in Suriname to achieve record production during 2005. That increase occurred as the company announced that its overall gold production last year decreased.

Gold production at Rosebel amounted to 10.6 t (341,400 oz), up nearly 25 percent from 2004. Mill throughput increased by 26 percent to 19.7 kt/d (21,700 stpd) with an average grade of 1.59 g/t (0.046 oz/st). That compares with 15.6 kt/d (17,200 stpd) in 2004 at an average grade of 1.84 g/t (0.053 oz/st).

Cambior said the increase at the Rosebel Mine was due, in part, to mine plan modifications and circuit enhancements. Under the new mine plan, all ore is milled as it is mined, the company said. Previously, only the high grade was milled.

This year, the Rosebel Mine is expected to produce about 10.4 t (335,000 oz) at a cash operating cost of $7.71/g ($240/oz), Cambior said. The company added that it will spend about $5 million to develop existing deposits at the property. And it will spend another $1.5 million on exploration in the region.

For 2005, Cambior's overall gold production amounted to 19.8 t (638,400 oz), an 8-percent drop from 2004. The decrease was due to the closure of the company's Omai Mine in Guyana.

However, the company said its proven and probable reserves have increased to about 155.5 t (5 million oz), up 42 percent from the end of 2004. That included a gain of 23.3 t (752,000 oz) at Rosebel. It also includes 34.2 t (1.1 million oz) in probable reserves shown in a feasibility study of its Camp Caiman property.

Copyright Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. Mar 2006

Source: Mining Engineering

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