With this year’s production figures indicating signifcant cost improvements, South African miner
Harmony, which bought the mine out of receivership in mid-1998, plans to increase underground haulage rates at the mine, 150 km northeast of Winnipeg. The daily production rate, now 635 tonnes, will be increased to 900 tonnes by January.
Bissett’s mill, which was restarted in October 1998, is now recovering an average of 93% of gold in the ore. The recovered grade (as opposed to the millhead grade) is around 6.2 grams per tonne. The improved recovery and general cost savings at the project have brought the average cash production cost down to US$278 per oz., which is expected to decline to US$220 per oz. once the mine is milling 900 tonnes per day.
Some of the expansion budget will be used for another round of delineation drilling, adding to the 21,600 metres drilled since the mine reopened. Harmony also plans to buy additional equipment for use on the deeper levels of the mine; below the present 32 level, operations will require only trackless equipment.
The expansion will bump up the Bissett workforce to 195 from 155.
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