Progressing Well With 5Mtpa CIP Plant Construction DIGITAL REPORT 2021
IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
RG GOLD
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rggold.kz
RG GOLD
PROGRESSING WELL WITH 5MTPA CIP PLANT CONSTRUCTION rggold.kz
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RG GOLD
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rggold.kz
RG GOLD
RG Gold is busy developing its new CIP Plant project and maximising its existing operation in Kazakhstan
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G Gold, the Kazakh gold mining and production company, operates one of the largest deposits of gold in Kazakhstan and is the third largest in terms of gold resources. The deposit is in the Burabay area of Akmola region, covering an area of 67.7 sq. km that consists of two pits: North and South. RG Processing, set up in October 2018, was created to facilitate the engineering and design of the project for the construction of a carbon-in-pulp (CIP) plant, that is expected to start processing 5 Mtpa of sulfide ore from Q3 2022. The KZT180 billion project includes building all necessary infrastructure objects such as tailings facility, new camp, water supply facilities and a new HV powerline. Both companies’ shareholders – Kazakh private equity group Verny Capital and American group of private equity funds under common management Resource Capital Funds (RCF) – are actively involved into companies’ strategic and operational management. Rossouw’s attention is now firmly fixed on the getting the new mine up and running. It is targeting 5 tonnes of gold per year, with 170 tonnes in resources and 99 tonnes in reserve. The total construction cost is $425 million. Development Bank of Kazakhstan JSC (a subsidiary of Baiterek Holding) provided a loan in the amount of up to US$300 million for nine years and the remainder will be provided by RG Processing at its own expense. rggold.kz
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RG GOLD
“I’ve grown up with autocratic leaders most of my life, and I saw it was something that didn’t bear fruit, so I’m 100% the opposite” LAWRENCE ROSSOUW CEO, RG GOLD
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rggold.kz
RG GOLD
LAWRENCE ROSSOUW TITLE: CEO
“We brought AAEngineering Group on board in January,” explains CEO Lawrence Rossouw. “They are the major technologyEPC provider at the moment, and they will also be responsible for commissioning services in the ramp up to full production. It’s been challenging, especially with the COVID situation. Some items got stuck at the Chinese border for several months, and
EXECUTIVE BIO
COMPANY: RG GOLD Responsible for the Company's operational management and the new 5 MTPA CIP Plant Project execution. Certified mining metallurgist with 25 years of operational, construction and project management experience in various parts of the world. Professional with an extensive experience in delivering successful projects associated with extreme weather conditions and logistically challenging locations.
RG GOLD
Carbon in pulp plant in numbers
5 Mtpa of sulfide ore from Q3 2022 Targeting
5tonnes of gold per year
170tonnes In resources
99tonnes In reserve
$425mn project cost
that was frustrating. We had to re-organise our construction schedule to accommodate the late delivery of these items.” Bullion will be sent to the Kazzinc refinery. Kazzinc operates one of the largest gold producing operation in Kazakhstan, Altyntau Kokshetau in the Akmola Region. Alongside the new venture, RG Gold is busy maximising its 2mtpa oxide ore treatment facility which it has been operating for the last 9 years. 8
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“The aim is to keep running that plant for the next two to three years. While we’re ramping up the CIP plant, we will have this plant in production as well. So, from 202325, we will be treating 7mtpa in total across both plants,” he adds. “Drilling results looks really good. We are expecting additional oxide resources close to surface, so the potential exist to keep the Heap Leach operation running for several years, maybe even longer.”
RG GOLD
RG Gold progressing well with 5Mtpa CIP Plant construction
“We brought AAEngineering Group on board in January. They are the major technologyEPC provider at the moment, and will also be responsible for commissioning services in the ramp up to full production” LAWRENCE ROSSOUW CEO, RG GOLD
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RG GOLD
“In future, when we have an operating mine, we’ll use the new technology such as AI to manage the plant and monitor the processing parameters. But right now, the focus is getting the plant up and running in a very short period of time” LAWRENCE ROSSOUW CEO, RG GOLD
Currently its workforce stands at 920 across mining, geology, processing and administration, but the plan is to add another approximately 300, to operate the CIP plant, growing total manpower to around 1,250 by the middle of next year. “We’ve been very fortunate in that COVID hasn’t impacted our business in any severe way. We obviously applied the strictest preventative measures and protocols, it was costly, but it was worth it – and we weren’t affected from a production point of view, and the project team worked remotely.” In terms of partners, RG Gold works closely with ASPMK, which has installed a new, 75km high-voltage overhead line, which will be commissioned in October this year; CPS, which built the tailings storage facility, and should be finished by the end of the year; and Fortinet protects its IT infrastructure. “We’ve built up a lot of connections with other mines – we collaborate with Kazzinc and Altynalmas to use their operating facilities to train our people. They have processing plants similar to ours in terms of technology and throughput. We have an unofficial agreement with these companies that from March 2022, we will send personnel to their facilities for practical training purposes.” 10
rggold.kz
RG GOLD
RG Gold portfolio
920 Staff
67,7sqkm
territory in North and South Raygorodok
170tons
of gold reserves
JORC-compliant resources of
6Moz
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RG GOLD
“We’ve been very fortunate in that COVID hasn’t impacted our business in any severe way. We obviously applied the strictest protocols, it was costly, but it was worth it” LAWRENCE ROSSOUW CEO, RG GOLD
Mining - From design to implementation. The activity of Mining and Ore Technologies LLP is the provision of production, technical and consulting services: surveying, drilling, blasting, excavation, transport work, outsourcing of production processes at the Ore mining Works in the field of open-pit mining. The staff of the organization is formed of highly qualified specialists with experience in the mining industry from 3 to 25 years. The management team consists of specialists with higher education and more than 10 years of experience in the mining industry. The fleet of mining and transport and drilling equipment is over 170 units of medium and heavy class - excavators with a bucket of 7m3 and 15 m3, dump trucks 91 tons. Scope of works performed - more than 40 mln m3 per year Discover more
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RG GOLD
The company prefers to use firms in Kazakhstan – since Verny Capital is a local entity – but it does call on international assistance when needed. “We start local, the villages around us, and that’s where the majority of our workforce come from. Training is a massive challenge. We spend a lot of time and money getting qualified people. “We’ll use partners when the quality of service locally isn’t to international standards – AMC in Australia handle mine design and geological work, for instance.” At a time when many firms are rapidly embracing new technologies during the digital transformation, RG Gold is taking a measured approach. Construction design was completed using 3D modelling. “In future, when we have an operating mine, we’ll use the new technology such as AI to manage the plant and monitor the processing parameters. Those will be implemented as we go forward. But right
now, the focus is getting the plant up and running in a short period of time, as the timeframe is very aggressive.” While the gold price may remain volatile, Rossouw is confident in the market’s future. “At least in the next 10 years, I see a big future for gold.”
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