July 26, 2017 | PNG Industry News
Lihir produced a record 276,230oz, up 20.3% quarter-on-quarter, as mill throughput reached a record 14.5 million tonnes per annum.
Newcrest said the mill throughput improvements were driven by the installation of mill liners with an improved design and the timing of shutdowns.
Although mill throughput is expected to be lower in the September quarter given planned shutdowns, the sustained annualised mill throughput rate target of 14mtpa by December 2017 remains on track.
Newcrest said that with higher mill throughput more material was passed through the float circuit, reducing overall plant recovery by about 3% to 78%.
The float tails leach stage tw cyclone was commissioned during the quarter and connection to the plant is expected to be completed in the September 2017 quarter, which is expected to assist with an increase in recovery rates in the future
All-in sustaining costs at Lihir were $802 an ounce, down 20%.
Newcrest managing director and CEO Sandeep Biswas said the performance at Lihir was a testament to the hard work and relentless drive for improvement strived for across all sites.
The company said that the Wafi-Golpu joint venture parties continued to progress activity in line with the forward work plan previously communicated, including engagement with the PNG government on the application for a special mining lease (SML) for it.
“The joint venture parties are targeting completion of work to update the study by the March 2018 quarter. It is expected that the business case will be optimised and an amendment to the SML application will be required to be submitted by the joint venture.”
Newcrest said that drill testing of the Nambonga North target within the Wafi-Golpu project area in Morobe Province was completed.
Work in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea continued through partnerships with PT Antam and St Barbara Mining respectively.
Exploration at Lihir took the form of initial soil sampling programs at Kinami.
At Gosowong in Indonesia, diamond drilling continued at the priority targets of Sesewet and Ngailamo in the search for new discoveries within the greater contract of work, which is situated on Halmahera Island in the North Maluku Province.
A regional induced polarisation (IP) survey was completed, extending geophysical coverage in the greater contract of work area.
“Structural geology studies around the present operations has defined a number of priority drill targets that will be tested over the next two quarters.”
