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AngloGold aims for 1.2m oz at Tropicana Posted: Wed, 08 Aug 2007 [miningmx.com] -- ANGLOGOLD Ashanti’s Tropicana project in Western Australia could ultimately produce between 600,000 oz and 1.2 million oz of gold annually if it develops in a similar fashion to Sunrise Dam. That’s according to Graham Ehm, regional head of AngloGold Ashanti’s Australian operations. The group will spend $32m on Tropicana out of its total greenfields exploration budget of $86m for its current financial year. Speaking at the Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum being held in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Ehm said a prefeasibility study at Tropicana started in May this year and a full feasibility study should begin in the first half of calendar 2008. AngloGold Ashanti owns 70% of Tropicana with the remaining 30% held by Australian junior, the Independence Group. At this stage, AngloGold Ashanti is targeting gold production of around 300,000 oz/year and a project life of around 10 years for Tropicana with construction to start in 2009 if all runs to plan. But Ehm stressed that it was early days at Tropicana and the associated Havana target which were part of a mineralised trend that stretched over at least 20km. He pointed out the air core results obtained near Tropicana were “of the same tenor” as the Tropicana discovery results and that all the zones were within trucking distance of a mill to be built at Tropicana. “Though the prefeasibility study is focused on Havana and Tropicana clearly these anomalies highlight the growth opportunities,” he told delegates. Questioned at a media conference afterwards on the possible ultimate size of Tropicana, Ehm pointed to the example of the group’s Sunrise Dam development. “When we first looked at Sunrise Dam it was a project estimated to produce around 100,000 oz annually over a seven-year life from a resource estimated at around 800,000 oz of gold. “So far, Sunrise has been operating for 10 years during which it has produced 3.5 million oz of gold in total and this year we estimate production at around 600,000 oz. “So, historically, good quality gold mining projects have tended to at least double and sometimes quadruple production from where they started,” Ehm said. Ehm declined to be pinned down on the capital cost of building a mine at Tropicana citing the remote location of the site and the fact that it is still early days on determining the scope of the project. Tropicana sits in the desert some 400km north-east of Kalgoorlie which, in turn, is located some 800km east of Perth. Click Here to subscribe to our daily newsletter
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