AMN - GHANA: Edikan collaboration wins IMARC award

Perseus Mining's collaboration to improve operations at Edikan Gold Mine in Ghana took out the METS Ignited Collaboration Award at the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) in Melbourne last week. This recognises the collaborative effort undertaken to implement sensing, data acquisition and expert input to improve grinding circuit operations at Edikan.

Perseus worked with mining equipment, technology and services (METS) providers Process IQ, a metallurgy and process engineering business based in Perth, as well as Orway Mineral Consultants/Orway IT, Mintek and Digital Control Labs (DCL).

The companies collaborated to implement a cloud-based data collection and transmission platform solution at Edikan. This enables the relevant data to be delivered to offices in Perth, Africa and Canada and then processed using real-time data analytics.

The world-first solution has significantly increased material distribution on-site.

Perseus’ improved performance at Edikan over the past year has resulted in the company meeting its production guidance for 11 consecutive quarters to September 2019.

The Edikan mine produced more than 190,000 ounces of gold in FY2018-19.

Perseus’ managing director Jeff Quartermaine said the technology deployed at Edikan through the collaboration had helped the mine improve its throughput rate, resulting in improved efficiency.

“It has actually generated some outstanding results at Edikan and is the reason why performance at Edikan has improved so much and we expect that will continue into the future.”

The solution, the PIQ Value Invention Process, is a multi-disciplinary approach to achieve the maximum from the milling circuit.

This has the potential to be expanded to other minerals processing sections like flotation and leaching, mining operations health and safety, environmental monitoring, asset management.

It can deliver potential economic benefits to mining companies and revenue for the METS partners.

The collaboration will allow the partners to expand the business offering internationally as it is now available to mines operating anywhere in the world, giving it potential for significant uptake in the industry.

The METS Ignited Collaboration Award celebrates collaborative partnerships between METS companies and mining firms who demonstrate a commitment to approaching industry or business opportunities collectively.

Meantime, Perseus has signed an option agreement with local Ghanaian company Adio Mabas Ghana Ltd to acquire the 23.85 square kilometre Agyakusu prospecting licence in Ghana.

PL 2/177 adjoins the Edikan mining leases and is between 2km and 8km kilometres from the Edikan processing facility.

Subject to completion of customary conditions, Perseus has the right to acquire 100% of the Agyakusu prospecting licence for US$600,000 over a three-year period and a commitment to spend up to US$1.6 million on exploration during that period.

Artisanal activity on the Agyakusu tenement has exposed an extensive, mineralised granitic system similar to deposits being mined on the Edikan mining leases.

Quartermaine said: “Agyakusu represents an exciting opportunity to potentially extend the current six-year remaining mine life of our Edikan Gold Mine.

“The agreement is consistent with Perseus’ three-pronged organic growth strategy, which involves optimisation of our existing asset base, exploration adjacent to our existing infrastructure and developing an exploration and development pipeline of projects away from existing licence areas.

“We look forward to rapidly advancing the exploration on Agyakusu to determine what this exciting prospect yields.”

www.perseusmining.com