OceanaGold commences milling at Didipio

Australian miner OceanaGold Corp. on Wednesday said milling has commenced following the successful commissioning of its Didipio copper-gold project in Nueva Vizcaya.

“In June 2011, we set a goal to commence commissioning the Didipio project in the fourth quarter of 2012,” said Mick Wilkes, OceanaGold managing director and chief executive, in a statement. “We have met that objective.”

Production of copper-gold concentrate is expected in the coming weeks, Wilkes said.

With the successful commissioning of Didipio project, the company can now start the conduct of a definitive feasibility study on possible expansion of its ore processing plant's capacity.

OceanaGold have said that the planned expansion will help increase the plant's ore processing capacity to about 5 million metric tons per annum (Mtpa) — from the initial throughput capacity of 2.5 Mtpa during the mine's commisioning — after 2014. By end 2014, the company projected that the plant, which is located north of the open pit mine, will have a throughput of 3.5 Mtpa. “The plant has been designed in a linear formation allowing for future expansion,” OceanaGold said in its report. It also said the plant's expansion would require additional ball mills, flotation, power supplies and thickeners.

"Ore processing will be done by conventional SAG/Ball mill grinding circuit followed by froth floatation for the recovery of gold and copper concentrate. A gravity circuit is incorporated within the grinding circuit to produce gold bullion on site," it said.

The Didipio mine, which is poised to become the first mining tenement in the country to operate under Financial or Technical Assistance Agreements (FTAA), is expected to produce 100,000 ounces of gold and 14,000 tons of copper per year over an estimated 16 year mine life. 

With the expansion of the plant capacity, the nominal production rate is forecast to increase to 150,000 ounces of gold per annum and 20,000 tons of copper per annum.

Meanwhile, Wilkes said since early October, the company has focused from building the tailings storage facility to building ore stockpiles for the processing plant. Mining activities are also ramping up with more than 800,000 tons of ore in stockpiles including 230,000 tons on the run-of-mine stockpile, he added. — KBK, GMA News