Barrick proceeds at Tulawaka

Barrick Gold (ABX-T) has unveiled plans to put the Tulawaka gold deposit, about 100 km west of its Bulyanhulu mine in Tanzania, into production.

Tulawaka, in which Barrick holds a 70% interest and Montreal-based Explorations Minires du Nord (MDN-T), 30%, would be developed as an open pit and produce about 100,000 oz. annually over a life of four years. It has resources of 2.3 million tonnes grading 11.1 grams gold per tonne based on a 1-gram cutoff grade, or 1.7 million tonnes grading 14.2 grams based on a 2-gram cutoff.

The US$50-million development marks a departure for Barrick, which has tended to concentrate on larger operations and ones it owns solely. The Tulawaka resource falls below the million-ounce threshold historically adopted by large gold producers, but the proximity of the 350,000-oz.-per-year Bulyanhulu operation may make Tulawaka a suitable fit.

Feasibility studies of the deposit centred on a 135-metre-deep, 50-hectare open pit; the reserve is estimated to be 1.4 million tonnes with an average gold grade of 11.5 grams per tonne. The pit design’s stripping ratio was 18.3-to-1 and the reserve was based on a cutoff grade of 1.6 grams per tonne.

A Barrick spokesman told wire services in Dar es Salaam that an underground operation could follow open-pit mining.

Tulawaka would have a 1,000-tonne-per-day plant with a semi-autogenous grinding mill and gravity and carbon-in-leach extraction and recovery circuits. Consultants estimate the mine’s cash operating cost at US$168 per oz., and capital costs (without contingencies) are pegged at US$42.4 million. The mine would have a workforce of 200-300 people.