Newmont Gold to commission Ahafo project

Accra, Nov. 7, GNA - Newmont Mining Corporation's Ahafo project will be commissioned next week as a 'success story', despite the national power rationing exercise that has lowered the mine's end-of-year production forecast, the company's Spokesperson Mawuena Dumor said in Accra.

The 500,000 ounce-a-year mine, which was originally forecast to produce between 225,000 and 250,000 ounces of gold by the close of 2006, is now expected to pour out between 160,000 and 195,000 ounces for the period, Ms Dumor told the Ghana News Agency late Monday. She said President John Agyekum Kufuor would commission the 470 million-dollar mine on November 17. It is Newmont's first project in Africa.

The Volta River Authority (VRA), the country's wholesale power utility, embarked on a nationwide load shedding on August 28 to industry and domestic consumers, citing low levels of water in its hydro-electric dam at Akosombo.

As part of the load management, the VRA advised bulk users, including Newmont, to curtail their consumption by as much as 50 percent to enable it to achieve the targeted recovery rate.

Ms Dumor said as a result of the curtailment, the Ahafo Plant could only be operated in a batch processing mode, which entailed stockpiling ore and processing.

The company said it was installing additional diesel generating capacity on site, while also exploring longer-term, lower-cost solutions to the power situation.

However, despite the negative impact of the power curtailment on the mine's projected output for 2006, Newmont looks forward to the commissioning as "a success story," she said.

"It is not really how much we're able to put out by the close of this year, but it is about Newmont's ability to progress with all the planned phases of construction to completion, and most importantly, the company's successful partnership with the communities," she held. Next week's commissioning will be on the theme: "Partnership for development.'

The Ahafo mine sold a total of 77,000 ounces of gold, being output for the period between its first pour on July 28 this year and the end of September.

The mine, which is one of two projects being undertaken by Newmont in Ghana, has a 20-year lifespan and is capable of processing seven million metric tons of ore yearly. The other, the Akyem project, has delayed.