Gold Flows From New Mines
Intermediates start up new assets, while a couple of Aussie juniors become producers
Two new major greenfields mines have poured first gold in the past two weeks.
Goose
B2Gold Corp (TSX: BTO) announced the first gold pour from its Goose mine in Nunavut, Canada.
Goose is B2Gold’s fourth producing mine and its first in Canada.
First ore was put through the Goose plant on June 24, and the mill has run consistently at around 50% of nameplate capacity since then.
The focus for the September quarter will be on the ramp-up to full capacity of 4000 tonnes per day.
Guidance for 2025 is 120,000-150,000 ounces, ramping up to 300,000oz per annum between 2026 and 2031.
Life-of-mine all-in sustaining costs are forecast to be US$1547 per ounce of gold.
“The commencement of gold production at the Goose mine marks an exciting step in B2Gold’s history, further diversifying and adding to the quality of the company’s existing global operating portfolio,” B2Gold president and CEO Clive Johnson said.
The remote project was acquired in April 2023 via the C$1.1 billion takeover of Sabina Gold & Silver Corp.
In September last year, B2Gold increased the capital costs for the development by 23% to C$1.54 billion and reconfirmed that budget in May.
In March, B2Gold reported Goose resources of 6 million ounces of gold and announced it was studying an increase in throughput to 6000tpd, as well as the addition of a flotation/concentrate leach process to increase recoveries and lower costs.
The company is spending just over half of its 2025 group exploration budget of US$61 million on Goose and the broader Back River Gold District.
Kiaka
On the same day, West African Resources (ASX: WAF) reported it had poured first gold at a former B2Gold asset, Kiaka in Burkina Faso.
Kiaka is West African’s second mine, joining the nearby Sanbrado operation, also in Burkina Faso.
The company poured gold bars weighing 5.7kg during the first smelt on site at Kiaka.
Ramp-up is now underway with recoveries already averaging above 92%.
The US$447 million project achieved first production ahead of schedule and under budget.
Kiaka is expected to ramp-up to nameplate capacity during the September quarter and produce 100,000-150,000oz in the December 2025 half.
The 8.4 million tonne per annum plant is expected to produce an average of 234,000ozpa of gold over 20 years.
“With the Kiaka build complete and production ramp-up underway, WAF has realised its strategy of having two long-life, unhedged, low-cost gold production centres in operation in 2025,” West African executive chairman Richard Hyde said.
“These quality operations underpin our goal of flying to 500,000 ounces per annum gold production by 2030.”
The addition of Kiaka will boost West African’s production profile to 460,000ozpa from 2026.
Kiaka was acquired in 2021 for US$100 million in cash and shares plus a 3% net smelter return royalty on the 2.5Moz of gold produced and a 0.5% NSR royalty on the next 1.5Moz produced.
Brownfields sites revived
Two small-scale Australian producers have also achieved first gold this month from brownfields sites.
Meeka Metals (ASX: MEK) announced the first gold pour from the restarted Andy Well processing plant at its Murchison gold project in Western Australia.
The A$46 million Murchison development is expected to produce an average of 65,000ozpa in the first seven years of a 10-year mine life at all-in costs of A$2247/oz.
Meanwhile, in Queensland, Native Mineral Resources (ASX: NMR) announced it poured first gold at its Blackjack mine on Sunday.
The company acquired the Blackjack and Far Fanning gold projects late last year for A$18.9 million plus a 2% production royalty from the administrators of Maroon Gold, which had collapsed in 2019 after losing money on its hedging contracts.
The project is initially targeting small-scale production of 20,000ozpa of gold, but NMR has aspirations to expand to 80,000ozpa.