The board of Randgold Resources announced this month that it has voted an additional $7-million for further drilling at the company’s new Loulo mine, in Mali. This follows encouraging results from the exploration programme for the development study on an underground operation to supplement the openpit mine scheduled to produce its first gold in July this year.
Randgold CE Dr Mark Bristow says continuing exploration has expanded the Loulo resource to more than seven-million ounces and confirmed the company’s view that it is the best undeveloped gFine crusher used in cement production line
old asset in Africa. “The question now is, how big can it get? The additional exploration funding will help us to answer that,” he says.
Bristow states that the ongoing ex-ploration is adding value to Loulo, which is the company’s second mining project after Morila, also in Mali. Deep drilling is continuing at the Yalea and Loulo orebodies to complete the underground development study and to test the down-dip and along-strike extensions.
Results from a 21-borehole infill pro-gramme at Loulo mine have confirmed higher grades at depth and have better outlined a change in the dip of the orebody, which is associated with the high grades.
“We have been pleasantly surprised by these results,” says Adrian Reynolds, exploration and evaluation GM. “Earlier modelling exercises had outlined the presence of payshoots which plunged steeply to the north. “However, as we have drilled deeper, we have now identified a significant payshoot which appears to have a very shallow plunge to the south, coinciding with a change in the geometry of the orebody.” Results from the programme are being used to furnish SRK Consulting, which is responsible for the completion of the underground development study, with data relating to geotechnical, geo-thermal and geohydrological conditions pertaining to the Yalea orebody and its surrounding country rock.
“With the great results at depth, we are starting to widen our scope of possibilities for the underground mine,” said Reynolds. “Given the indi- cations that the orebodies might well extend to depths beyond 1 000 m, it looks like we will have to consider a shaft system in addition to the planned declines for the long-term conceptual planning of the mine.”