Gold Mining Industries
Two multinational gold-mining companies are now involved in major joint ventures with the government: IAMGOLD Corporation of Toronto, and Newmont Mining Corporation of Greenwood Village, Colorado. Investments of $1.1 billion are anticipated. Suriname estimates that there is enough gold for six more medium-sized or large gold mines and is currently establishing a medium-sized gold mine through its fully state-owned mining company, Grassalco.
IAMGOLD Corporation operates the Rosebel Goldmines which it owns for 95 % wile the government of Suriname owns 5% . Commercial production started in 2004. At the end of 2016 an amount of 4.4. million ounces of gold had been produced.
The mine is located in the district Brokopondo approxx. 85 kilometers from the capital Paramaribo. The mining concession is 170 square kilometsr large. It is accessible by paved roads and gravel roads. An Airstrip is located approx. 2 km from the mill operations.
Electrical Energy is purchased from the local government and a parastatal energy company. Rosebel sources power from the hydroelectric generating station and diesel generation plant.
Mining
Rosebel mines by conventional open pit methods using excavators and trucks. The material is categorized as either soft rock, transition or hard rock. The mining sequence includes drilling, blasting or hauling for both ore and waste.
Attributable production at Rosebel in 2019 is expected to be approx. 315,000 - 330,000 ounces.
Minelife and Outlook
In September 2018 a life- of- mine plan for Rosebel was announced. The updated mine life includes 4.7 million ounces of attributable Reserves, including 1.0 million ounces from Saramacca, 9.3 million ounces of attributable Measured and Indicated Resources, including 1.2 million ounces at Saramacca, which supports a 15-year mine life (2018-2033) with average mill throughput of 10.9 million tonnes per annum producing 281,000 attributable ounces. The average annual production increases by 11% to 295,000 ounces (337,000 ounces on a 100% basis) from 2020 to 2032, when Saramacca will be in or close to full production. (Source: IamGold website)
Contact: Email IamGold