Etruscan gains majority stake in Koma Bangou

Junior Etruscan Enterprises (EET-V) has completed its requirements to earn a 67% interest in the Koma Bangou gold property in Niger, West Africa.

The company earned the interest by producing a feasibility study and spending US$5 million on exploration and development.

Echo Bay Mines (ECO-T) can earn 65.67% of Etruscan’s interest, in which case the major would hold a 44% interest in the property, with Etruscan and state-owned ONAREM each holding 23% and the Nigerien government directly owning 10%.

Koma Bangou consists of six separate deposits, with total reserves last estimated (in 1993) at 11.1 million tonnes grading 2.46 grams gold per tonne to a vertical depth of 70 metres.

Earlier this year, Etruscan started a feasibility study on the near-surface, saprolite portions of three of these deposits, V1 South, V7A, and V3, which, taken together host geological resources of about 10.3 million tonnes at 0.93 gram gold.

All three deposits are amenable to open-pit mining methods, and production rates are projected at 3,300 tonnes per day.

Although conventional heap-leach technology will be employed at the site, Etruscan has hired an independent company to conduct further test work to confirm cyanide and cement consumption rates, as well as determine the amenability of Koma Bangou ore to the use of polymers. Because of the large amount of clays in the ore material, cement must be added in order to prevent binding of clay material, which lowers gold extraction rates. It is anticipated that cement agglomeration costs can be reduced through the addition of these polymers.

Capital costs for the project are calculated at US$12.3 million; production costs, at US$241 per oz. gold, generating a cash flow of US$19.1 million.

A final feasibility study is expected this month.