LONDON (Alliance News) - Aureus Mining Inc Monday said it has still not managed to restart the gold plant at the New Liberty project in Liberia but said good progress has been made which should allow processing operations to recommence "within the next two weeks".
Aureus was forced to suspend plant operations at its New Liberty gold mine earlier this month after problems with a circuit and heavy rainfall caused a "small overflow" from its tailings facility. Operations will not restart until authorities have approved the remediation work and rectified the issue.
"The company is working closely with both the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia to oversee the restart of processing operations and to ensure that this process is undertaken in accordance with the International Cyanide Management Code," said the miner.
"The company is working towards a recommencement of processing operations at New Liberty within the next two weeks, subject to final approval of the Ministry of Lands, Mines and Energy," the company added.
Aureus said the Environmental Protection Agencyu has given its approval for Aureus to construct holding zones within the wetlands area downstream of the tailings storage facility, which should enable better aeration of surface waters and improved retention times. The leak from the facility mostly impacted the surrounding wetland areas and has so far not caused any injuries of fatalities to any individuals.
The miner said it has engaged technical experts to help with various modifications within the process plant and detoxification circuit to ensure that discharges onto the facility comply with the environmental and operating permits that regulate the project.
"A number of technical studies by international consultants are underway, to review the company's environmental and social action plans and ensure compliance with International Finance Corporation's performance standards and the Equator Principles," said Aureus.
International Finance Corp is the company's lender and the World Bank's private sector lender whilst the Equator Principles are a risk-management framework adopted by financial institutions for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risk in projects.
Aureus said it is holding discussions with its lenders and suppliers and reiterated that mining activities are ongoing, with ore being stockpiled rather than treated. Aureus said it has stockpiled 73,431 tonnes of ore graded at 3.78 grammes of gold per tonne.
Total gold production since the start of 2016 stands at 30,000 ounces of gold, which can be compared to the 22,706 ounces that were produced during the first three months of the year.
Aureus shares were up 10% to 3.71 pence per share on Monday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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