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OceanaGold Corporation provided a progress update on construction activities at the Didipio Project located in northern Luzon, Philippines.
Mick Wilkes, Managing Director & CEO commented, “We continue to make good progress on construction activities at Didipio with the key milestone of pouring first concrete on schedule in November 2011. Mining activity is on track to commence in January 2012 and we expect to commission the process plant in Q4 2012. This project will transform OceanaGold, producing on average 100,000 ounces of gold and 14,000 tonnes of copper at cash costs net of by-product credits of US$356/oz of gold over a 16 year mine life.” Progress Highlights - A total of 258 people have been engaged for construction of the Project which commenced in June of whom 25 are managers, engineers or supervisors.
- Following the appointment of the General Manager of Operations in June, 80% of the key managers for the operations team have now been hired and include managers for Mining, Community Partnership, Safety, Commercial and Supply.
- The plant site excavation is well advanced and on schedule for commencement of the concrete works in November.
- Long lead-time equipment already purchased such as the mills and flotation tanks are currently being relocated to the Philippines to a central staging area. This equipment is scheduled to be mobilised to site from this location during the second quarter of 2012.
- Phase one of the accommodation camp facilities for the construction contractors is on schedule for completion by the end of September.
- Geotechnical programs for the plant site have been completed and are now underway for the Tailings Storage Facility (TSF). This is expected to be completed by the end of September with all results to date confirming the location and design of these facilities.
- The tendering process for the mining contractor is well advanced and the contract is expected to be awarded in the next two months. The mining contractor will begin to mobilise to Didipio in December and open pit mining activities are expected to commence in January 2012.
- Tendering has commenced for an offtake agreement for the copper gold concentrate with strong interest received from leading metals trading companies. This process will continue through the remainder of the year, when a contract is expected to be finalised.
Access road upgrades continue with a key focus on improving water drainage and widening in some areas. This is in preparation for the arrival of additional heavy equipment in the coming weeks. Several major contracts have been awarded including plant site earthworks, concrete supply, concrete works and structural steel for the concentrate storage shed, catering and freight forwarding. The concrete batch plant is scheduled to be mobilised to site in October with concrete contractors expected to commence laying the first concrete in November. The mine infrastructure design for the operations village complex and related services is underway and are expected to be completed by late October. Construction of the facility is expected to commence thereafter in preparation for use in Q1 2012. Looking ahead, we expect to have in excess of 500 workers active on the construction team for the project by mid way through the fourth quarter. Additionally, detailed design of the process plant should reach 85% by this point and the completion of geotechnical drilling for the TSF will allow for detailed design of the TSF to be completed in Q4. Peak construction activity is expected to be achieved in Q1 2012. More information, click here. |
