Resource World Magazine

8 www.resourceworld.com F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 1 7 IT TAKES A GREAT DEAL OF TALENT, money, effort and a little luck to advance a mineral project to the point of making a construction decision. The mining sector is one of the world's most regulated indus - tries and most projects take several years to finally produce their first commodity. In addition to developing an economic engineering plan, there are many other hurdles to overcome such as permitting, road access, social license and, in certain jurisdictions, First Nation accommodation. The following companies have reached the mine building stage. OCEANAGOLD CORP. Australia-based OceanaGold Corp. [OGC- TSX, ASX; OGDCF-OTC] is well into building the 100%-owned Haile gold mine 3 km northeast of Kershaw, South Carolina, a project it acquired through the acquisi - tion of Romarco Minerals. The company completed construc- tion of the tailings storage facility ahead of schedule and began dry commission- ing activities including the crusher and conveyor circuits. The grinding, carbon- in-leach (CIL) and tailings circuits have been commissioned to treat oxide and transition ores. Mining is now underway at a rate of 60,000 tons per day. Proven and probable reserves stand at 2.02 million tons grading 2.06 g/t gold. Total resources are pegged at 4.84 million tons. The production forecast for 2017 to 2020 is 150,000 to 200,000 ounces of gold per year and, post-2020, at 250,000 ounces per year. There are about 675,000 tonnes of ore stockpiled on surface, including 275,000 tonnes grading 2.3 g/t of sulphide ore, 245,000 tonnes grading 0.6 g/t of oxide ore and 155,000 tonnes grading 1.1 g/t of transitional material. Exploration continues at the Haile gold project as well as regional exploration in South Carolina. In 2016, OceanaGold expects to pro - duce 385,000-425,000 ounces gold from its combined New Zealand and Didipio min- ing operations and 19,000-21,000 tonnes copper from the Didipio operation in the Philippines. IVANHOE MINES LTD. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. [IVN-TSX; IVPAF- OTC] is advancing the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project 270 km west of the provin- cial capital of Lubumbashi, a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd. and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been independently ranked as the world's largest, undeveloped, high-grade, copper discovery. Mine development is well under way on a number of fronts. The company recently released a Preliminary Economic Assessment of the project with some very healthy numbers. Indicated resources total 192 million tonnes grading 3.45% copper, for 14.6 billion lbs at a 1% copper cut-off. by Ellsworth Dickson Out of the hundreds of explorers seeking an economic mineral deposit, here is a worldwide roundup of companies making the transition to producer Mine Building Roundup

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