Operational Overview
Exploration License & Small Claim Mining Licenses
- GOLKOR has entered a 50/50 joint venture with AMBEX Ghana Limited
- GOLKOR retains an option to acquire 90% of AMBEX Ghana Limuted
- AMBEX has a joint venture agreement (80/20) with two individuals which each hold 5 small claim mining licenses
- GOLKOR shall purchase ore from these locations to be processed at its CIP Plant 1.4km away
- AMBEX has purchased land located adjacent to it’s production area where it will build the CIP Plant with Golkor
- GOLKOR will begin open cut mining and ship ore to its CIP Plant
- AMBEX has applied for an exploration license encompassing a total of km2 where it plans to commence a drilling program to determine a resource
- Within the pending exploration license are two areas; Area 1 which is 16.2km2 and contains 49 small mining claims and Area 2 which is 54km2 and contains 110 small mining claims
- These 159 small mining claims fall under the Landowners Association which AMBEX currently has a joint venture agreement with whereby the
Landowners Association will retain a 20% ownership from the production and processing of gold from their properties - In addition, GOLKOR will also be purchasing existing ore from these 159 small claim mining licenses to process at its CIP plant
Project Overview
- Location: The Ashanti Gold Field – southern extension of the AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi gold mine
- Resource/Production of Region: Neighboring world class gold deposits such as Obuasi, an underground operation owned by AngloGold Ashanti, producing 450,000 oz. per year with a mineral resource of 24.5m oz. The gold belt continues to the south adjacent to the company’s exploration license
- Mineralization/Geology: One of the most significant Proterozoic gold belts discovered to date. Well mineralized high grade quartz vein in 300m decline. The project has 4km of strike extents of the world famous Obuasi gold mine with locals miners actively recovering gold from these extensions
- Types of Licenses: Exploration license submitted and pending. Joint venture agreements in place with two groups for 10 small claim mining licenses and finalizing agreement with Landowners Association containing 159 small claim mining licenses
- Type of Operation: Open cut (pit) and underground mining and ore purchasing and processing from local artisanal miners
- Mine Life: Expected 5+ years (500tpd @ 8gr per ton on average, scales up to 1000 tons per day in the second year)
- Infrastructure: Offices set up in Obuasi (community relations base). Construction of first 500tpd CIP processing plant on recently purchased land adjacent to exploration license
- Capital Requirement: $2.5m
- Revenue: Est. Year 2 Rev of $22m (1 plant) growing to $141m by the end of year 3 with 2 plants running at full capacity
Project Location
Exploration license which includes Area 1 – 16.2km2 (29 small claim mining licenses) and Area 2 (110 small claim mining licenses) 57.2km2 This is the Landowners Association areas restricted to small scale mining.
Agreement with two individuals Abdul Muniyni and Adam Kofi. Each holds 5 small claim mining licenses, of only 8 are shown in yellow on the map. GOLKOR will transport from these locations to be processed.
Region Aerial Overview
The mine site located in hilly terrain dissected by broad, flat drainages that typically form swamps in the wet season between May and late October. Hill tops are generally at very similar elevations with maximum elevations at approximately 680m above sea level. Despite the subdued topography, hill slopes are typically steep.
In general, the concession areas have been largely transformed, having experienced extensive degradation in recent years. The main land uses include secondary forest, subsistence and cash crop farming, and artisanal gold mining.
Ghana predominantly has a tropical climate and consists mostly of low savannah regions with a central, hilled forest belt. Ghana’s one dominant geographic feature is the Volta River, upon which the Akosombo HydroElectric Dam was built in 1964. The damming of the Volta created the enormous Lake Volta, which occupies a sizeable portion of Ghana’s south-eastern territory.
Obuasi History
Surrounding Gold Discoveries
The Obuasi Gold Mine, located near Obuasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, has a rich history dating back to 1897 when large-scale commercial and industrial mining began under the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, contributing to the region’s significance in providing the gold for which the Gold Coast was named. Over the years, it became one of the world’s top ten largest gold mines.
In 2004, Ashanti Goldfields merged with AngloGold to form AngloGold Ashanti, with Obuasi and the Iduapriem Gold Mine contributing 11% to the company’s annual production. At its temporary closure in 2014, Obuasi had past gold production plus current resource of 62 million troy ounces.
A favorable feasibility study in 2017 highlighted a strong technical and economical case for the mine’s pre-development, projecting a 20-year mine life. The project received approval from the AngloGold Ashanti board in 2018, kicking off the redevelopment initiative.
After receiving approvals from the Ghanaian Government in 2018, efforts to recapitalize the mine began in 2019. The redevelopment project saw its first gold pour in December 2019, marking a significant milestone in its revival.
Phase 1 of the project concluded by the end of September 2020, initiating commercial production on October 1, 2020. Phase 2, focusing on construction and mine development, was completed in 2021. Currently, Phase 3 is in progress, aiming to develop infrastructure to support a planned ramp-up in production to 5,000tpd by the end of 2023. Despite setbacks like the temporary stoppage of underground activities due to a fall of ground incident in May 2021, production gradually resumed later that year, demonstrating the resilience and determination of the Obuasi Gold Mine’s redevelopment efforts.
Mineralization/Geology
The mine is located within the Obuasi concession area in southwestern Ghana along the north-easterly striking Ashanti volcanic belt. The deposit is one of the most significant Proterozoic gold belts discovered to date. The Ashanti belt predominantly comprises sedimentary and mafic volcanic rocks and is the most prominent of the five Birimian Supergroup gold belts found in Ghana.
Multiple lodes are a common feature. Mineralized shears are found in close proximity to the contact with harder metamorphosed and metasomatically altered intermediate-to basic Upper Birimian volcanics. The competency contrast between the harder metavolcanic rocks to the east and the more
Gold mineralization is associated with, and occurs within, graphite-chlorite-sericite fault zones. These shear zones are commonly associated with pervasive silica, carbonate and sulfide hydrothermal alteration and occur in tightly folded basement rocks.
Two main ore types are present, namely quartz vein and sulfide ore. The quartz vein type consists mainly of quartz with free gold in association with lesser amounts of various metal sulfides containing iron, zinc, lead and copper.
This ore type is generally non-refractory. The sulfide ore type is characterized by the inclusion of gold in the crystal structure of arsenopyrite minerals. Higher gold grades tend to be associated with finer grained arsenopyrite crystals; the sulfide ore is generally refractory.
CIP Processing Plant
Carbon In Pulp Processing
Cyanide is a lixiviant, or reagent that is used to leach, often in tanks, gold from a solid matrix and form a gold cyanide complex. The gold cyanide complex is then extracted from the pulp or slurry by adsorption onto activated carbon. CIL stands for carbon-in-leach. This is a gold extraction process called cyanidation where carbon is added to the leach tanks (or reaction vessel) so that leaching and adsorption take place in the same tanks. CIL is slightly different from another gold extraction process called CIP or carbon-in-pulp process. In the latter case leaching takes place in tanks dedicated for leaching followed by adsorption onto carbon in tanks dedicated for adsorption.
Introduced in the early 1980s, Carbon in Pulp is regarded as a simple and cheap process. As such it is used in most industrial applications where the presence of competing silver or copper does not prohibit its use. In the case of high copper content, froth flotation is more typical.
Production Plan
GOLKOR’s initial production target is situated directly south of the historic Anglo Obuasi mine, whose gold trend has been clearly delineated through extensive trenching, pitting, drilling, and exploration conducted by Anglo and the local small-scale mining community over many years.
The world-famous Obuasi mine, which currently adjoins the companies project, operates underground with main accesses consisting of shafts and a single access decline, with interlevel development between 15 and 30 meters. The Obuasi Deeps Decline, located at the southern end of the mine, is designed to extend to a depth of approximately 1,500 meters, employing mainly the long hole open stoping (LHOS) mining method for ore extraction.
Anglo’s plans to extend mining to the south were unexpectedly halted and after much negotiation, the parties reached a settlement to return a significant portion (30%) of its mine land holdings to the Landowner Association for them to produce their own gold but no geological records were furnished when the transfer finally occurred.
AMBEX’s Joint Venture with the Anglo Landowners Association Members has allowed the company to develop a new drilling program and provides access to the locations needed to produce up to 1000tpd in it’s planned open cut operation.
The landowners will hold a 20% profit share of the partnerships production and drilling operations. The open cut operation will cover more than 25 existing small scale mines that contain high grade ore (+8 g/t Au) on average. This open cut operation is targeted to provide feed stock to our CIP plant starting at 500tpd and increase to the 1000tpd with the construction of a second plant.
- Underground and open cut mining will be underway with 1 drill rig to start
- Processing to begin in month 7 at 250tpd (1,548 oz per month) growing to 500tpd (3,097 oz per month) in month 13
- Second plant to come online in month 19 doubling capacity by month 25 for a total of 6,194 oz produced per month or 74,332 per annum
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