B2 Gold tables feasibility study for Colombia mine
B2Gold Corp. [BTO-TSX, BTG-NYSE American, B2G-NSX] has announced positive results of a feasibility study on its 100%-owned Gramalote gold project in the Department of Antioquia, Colombia.
The estimated construction capital cost of US$740 million, includes approximately US$73 million for mining equipment and US$81 million for contingency.
B2Gold shares edged up 0.84% or $0.04 to $4.82 in early trading Monday. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $5.20 and $3.16.
The study envisages an open pit gold mine with an 11-year mine life (mill processing over 13 years), producing an average of 177,000 ounces annually at an all-sustaining cost of US$985 an ounce.
Life of project gold production is estimated at 2.3 million ounces with an average gold recovery of 95.7% from conventional milling, flotation and cyanide leach of the flotation concentrate.
Average annual gold production for the first five years is expected to be 227,000 ounces, and 177,000 ounces over the life of the project.
Other highlights include an average grade processed of 1.23 g/t gold over the first five years, resulting from the processing of high-grade core at the project. The life of mine average grade is estimated at 0.96 g/t.
B2Gold said mine plan and environmental permits are currently in place for a larger-scale project. It said these permits will require modification to reflect the new medium-scale project contemplated in the feasibility study, a process that is expected to take 12 to 18 months.
The Gramalote project is located in central Colombia, approximately 230 kilometres northwest of Bogota and 100 kilometres northeast of Medellin in the province of Anioquia.
The mineral reserve estimate for Gramlote that forms the basis for the feasibility study includes probable reserves of 76.7 million tonnes of grade 0.96 g/t or 2.36 million ounces of contained gold.
The study evaluates recovery of gold from an open pit mining operation that will move up to approximately 97,000 tonnes per day (35.5 million tonnes annually), with an approximately 16,500 tonne-per-day processing plant that includes crushing, grinding, flotation, with fine grinding of the flotation concentrate and agitated leaching of the flotation concentrate followed by a carbon-in-pulp recovery process to process the dore bullion.
B2Gold is an international senior gold producer, based in Vancouver. The company has operating gold mines in Canada, Mali, Namibia and the Philippines. The company expects to produce between 970,000 and 1,075,000 ounces this year.
That’s up from 804,778 ounces on 2024 (including 19,664 attributable production from Calibre Mining Corp. which came in at the low end of the company’s 2024 guidance range.
The expected increase in gold production relative to 2024 is predominantly due to output from the Fekola Complex in Mali.
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