Baku, Azerbaijan, May 23
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
Central Asia Resources Limited commences operation at Dalabai heap leach gold project in Kazakhstan, the company reported on May 23.
This follows the receipt of Tranche 1 funds of $ 930,000 from the Halyk Bank Loan Facility, and a detailed project review.
Planned capital improvements for the ramp up to full production include the purchase of an additional crusher, and a gold desorbtion system. This second crusher will facilitate a significant increase in ore crushing throughput and spread the workload over the crushing circuit. The resin desorbtion and electro winning circuit will allow production of final product (cathode gold) on site rather than transporting gold-rich resin and relying on expensive third-party facilities. The order has now been placed for the crusher and the order for the gold desorption plant is being finalized.
Central Asia Resources will require the drawdown of the additional funding from Tranche 2 of the Halyk Bank Loan facility in the amount of $1.58 million, supplemented by an Australian equity fundraising as part of seeking relisting on the Australian Securities Exchange to sustain the restart of mining at the Dalabai site.
The company considers the project now largely technically de-risked as a result of the extensive trial mining and stockpile treatment projects undertaken since 2011 and looks forward to securing the required residual funding to support sustained gold operations.
Central Asia Resources Limited is focused on exploration, development and production of gold in Kazakhstan. The company holds two license areas in Kazakhstan which are within recognized gold belts, and close to operating mines and infrastructure. Trial mining commenced at the first project, Dalabai in February 2012 using shallow open pit mining and heap leach technology, with a further 1,040 ounces produced in late 2013 from leaching of stockpiled material.
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