Prestea Mine resuscitated

Commercial gold production in one of Ghana’s oldest underground mines, the Prestea Underground Mine in the Western Region, will resume very soon after some years of undergoing redevelopment, care and maintenance.

This follows the successful raising of some funds from Royal Gold by Golden Star Resources Limited (GSR), a gold mining company based in the Western Region to revitalize the underground mine which was acquired by GSR in 2002.

Alimak-stoping is selected as the mining method for the Prestea Mine due to its safety and efficiency benefits.

Golden Star Resources has been able to refurbish, reshape and replaced obsolete equipment at the century-old mine to enable it resume production very soon.

The company’s Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs, Madam Katharine Sutton, told reporters in Takoradi in the Western Region.

According to her, the Plant would be modified to efficiently process 650 tons per day of ore adding “even the low volumes of ore mined from Prestea Underground deliver robust production due to very high grades”.

She pointed out that the old winder house of the underground mine had been converted into electrical switch gear room and made weatherproofed.

She also revealed that access around the surface infrastructure had been improved while new hoist or compressor transformers had been installed.

Madam Sutton added that an underground mining trainer specialized in mechanized shrinkage, had also been appointed from Manroc Developments, Incorporated.

She disclosed that installation of new electrical and water supply services had been completed and that all five Alimaks Rock winder and cage winder upgrade were completed and commissioned.

“We remain on track to bring Prestea Underground Mine into production and this will be a significant milestone for Golden Star”, she said.

Mr Robert Gyamfi, the Community Relations and Social Responsibility Manager of Golden Star described the current transformation at the Mine as unprecedented.

“No one has done this since the inception of the mine and the transformation is very significant to the country’s economy”, he added.

According to him, Golden Star Resources inherited the Prestea Underground Mine and successfully went through the phase of care and maintenance for a reasonable length of time.

“There were some feasibility studies and we finally got investment from Royal Gold and we have been able to transform the mine from care and maintenance to production”, he added.

The collapse of the mine in the early part of the year 2000, shattered many economic activities in the Prestea area, resulting in thousands of residents and migrants losing their jobs.

The people of Prestea were therefore excited about the coming back of the mine.