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AFRIcA DoWn UnDeR

Resolute refocus at Syama

fter a dramatic few weeks for the com- pany said group production would be at is eager to fill out the back end of a pro-
Apany, Resolute Mining Ltd’s acting the lower end of full calendar year guid- duction profile which currently estimates
chief executive Stuart Gale used the Africa ance of 400-430,000oz while AISC would 140,000 ozpa gold production over the
Down Under platform to tell investors the be at the upper end of $US980-1,080/oz. next five years.
company would be focused on delivering While the sulphide circuit continues to “It is important we capitalise on the as-
the production profile at its two long-life present issues, Gale said the smaller ox- set by extending the mine life,” Gale said.
gold assets. ide plant continued to perform well. Mining At the company’s third West African as-
Gale found himself speaking in the open- of the Tabakaroni oxide pit is nearing com- set, Bibiani in Ghana, potential buyers are
ing session of Africa Down Under following pletion, but Resolute will continue its hunt being welcomed to site after COVID re-
the abrupt departure of managing director for small oxide pits along the Syama belt. strictions were lifted in the country.
John Welborn at the end of October. Ru- “The oxide circuit has been terrific,” Gale “We have had it under strategic review
mours continue to fly around the reasons said. “There are a number of satellite op- looking at options for how someone else
and circumstances surrounding Welborn’s portunities for oxides; Bruce [Mowat, ex- might be better placed to deliver Bibiani,”
removal with Resolute chairman Martin ploration manager] and the team continue Gale said. “COVID precluded us from get-
Botha giving the briefest of comments in to identify oxide pits, so we are looking to ting potential investors to site but Ghana
the associated ASX announcement. keep it up and running for a while. Our suc- has lifted the hard border and had an op-
“John has worked hard to reposition and cess on that will determine the timing of the portunity recently to get people there.”
transform the business over the last five Tabakaroni underground development.” – Dominic Piper
years, and the time is right to introduce New opportunities are also the target
a new CEO to take Resolute forward, to at Mako, in Senegal, where the company
deliver improvements in operational out-
comes and resilience, and to deliver the
next phase of sustainable value for the
company,” Botha said in the announce-
ment.
Resolute’s performance in the last 12
months had been underwhelming in com-
parison to peers on both the ASX and in
West Africa. Its share price was down 23%
for the year to date at the time of Welborn’s
departure, due largely to operational and
labour issues at its Syama gold mine in
Mali. In comparison, fellow West African
gold miners Perseus Mining Ltd (22%) and
West African Resources Ltd (143%) had
posted significant gains.
Speaking at Africa Down Under, Gale
said the company was confident it could
find consistency from Syama’s notoriously
tricky refractory ore.
“It is important to get back onto deliv-
ering the production profile and hitting
the 2.4 mtpa run rate from underground
at Syama,” he said. “It is producing well
at the moment. It takes time to work but
we’re getting there and we are pleased.
We need to match the mill throughput with
the mining. We had a few challenges in the
last period but we are getting comfortable
with the circuit and we are getting to the
80% recoveries we need.”
Syama has experienced several disrup-
tions to its roasting circuit in the last 18
months, a problem exacerbated by indus-
trial labour disputes in the middle of this
year. While agreement has been struck
with unions, the interruptions led to reduc-
tions for the September quarter with gold
production down 19% to 87,303oz and
AISC up 24% to $US1,284/oz. The com-
Stuart Gale

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