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COVER

Attention will soon switch to the BA01 satellite deposits

Syama general manager Les Taylor inspects rather than development success and he was chief executive of Prairie Downs
that’s why we are delaying.” Metals (now Prairie Mining Ltd) after cut-
the latest batch of core from deep drilling ting his teeth as an investment banker in
Such is Welborn’s confidence in Reso- Perth.
“We’ve got a great team on the ground lute’s growth he has expanded the com-
and we’re now transitioning back to an pany’s management team from three to The 46-year-old is also well known
operation we ran before, but this time six, bringing in Paul Henharen (general for his professional rugby union career,
we’re going to be producing more gold manager project delivery), David Kelly pulling on the Wallabies jumper six times
at a very low cost and for a long time to (general manager corporate strategy) and making 63 appearances for the New
come.” and Vanessa Hughes (general manager South Wales Waratahs before joining his
people, culture and information) to work hometown Western Force’s inaugural
Welborn and his team hope Bibiani alongside long-serving trio Peter Beilby squad in 2006.
will become the company’s third operat- (chief operating officer), Greg Fitzgerald
ing mine in the next few years, however, (chief financial officer) and Bruce Mowat “It’s a much more friendly welcome in
there is no immediate rush to bring the (general manager exploration). countries like Mali than it was 20 years
former Noble Mineral Resources Ltd pro- ago against the Springboks in my first
ject online. Welborn is no stranger to Africa, hav- Test at Bloemfontein during that Invictus
ing previously served as managing di- period of South African rugby,” Welborn
Resolute completed a feasibility study rector of iron ore hopeful Equatorial Re- said with a wry smile.
on Bibiani in June, highlighting produc- sources Ltd for five years. Prior to that,
tion of up to 1.2 mtpa from long hole open Those who have followed Welborn’s
stope underground mining for life-of-
mine AISC of $858/oz. A majority of the Resolute has set aside $19 million for exploration across its whole portfolio
$72 million upfront development capital
is needed to refurbish and upgrade the
existing processing plant.

The feasibility study flagged a nine-
month timeline to production following a
decision to mine at Bibiani, which hosts
a reserve of 5.4mt @ 3.7 g/t gold for
640,000oz. The company will soon re-
start drilling in a bid to extend the mine
life beyond the current five years.

“We’d like to try and match the mine
life to the long-life operations we have at
Syama and Ravenswood,” Welborn said.
“And we’d like to build an even more ef-
ficient mine and make it our lowest cost
mine, but both of those things require us
to expand and understand the geology
better.

“Now that we’ve got the balance sheet
strength, we’re going to be able to fund
the exploration campaign we want. We
think our ability to develop the mine is go-
ing to be driven by exploration success

PAGE 28 DECEMBER 2016 - JANUARY 2017 AUSTRALIA’S PAYDIRT