CANADIAN-owned Mahdia Gold Corporation, with properties at Omai in Region 7 (Cuyuni/Mazaruni), announced, last week, that it plans to start surface or alluvial mining from January 2014.

It said the initial rate of production will target 300 ounces of gold per month in a joint venture with Roraima Investment & Consulting Services (Guyana) Inc.
The targeted Roraima Area is located inside the Omai Prospecting licence domain and is held for dvelopment purposes in a mining permit by Roraima Investment & Consulting Services (Guyana) Inc.
Pursuant to a number of agreements and powers of attorney, Mahdia Gold holds control over the proceeds from the Roraima Area and President and Chief Executive Officer Andre Douchane said that, initially, operations will be carried out with a 10- inch floating dredge capable of mining 100 tonnes per hour (TPH).
The mined placer material will be pumped to a screening/wash plant and onto a sump that would be used to feed a steady flow to a very large 20-feet wide by 30-feet long sluice.
Daylight hours
The partners are estimating the system to have gold recoveries of above 70 percent and Douchane said that the start-up operations  will  be restricted to daylight hours as the miners familiarise themselves with the equipment and mining sequence.
“Once everyone is comfortable with all of the operations, Roraima is planning to operate 20 hours per day, using portable light plants to enable safe operations at night,” he said.
The dredging will begin in the Wenot East alluvial target at Omai, located within the Roraima mining permit area where Mahdia Gold completed its alluvial test programme earlier this year.
Recent testing results from there confirmed the presence of gold in all size fractions, Mahdia Gold had previously announced.
Mahdia’s management believes this gold bearing paleochannel (ancient river bed) presents an opportunity for accelerated production using low cost bulk mining methods and gravity processing technology.
Douchane said that, as information is gathered and income is generated, a more complex recovery circuit will be designed and manufactured for use with a larger cutter head type dredge.
Roraima is planning to scale up to 400 TPH by July 1, 2014 in the 534 acres which was previously mapped as a paleochannel with maximum depths to around 25 metres.
Last week, another expatriate gold mining company, the Australian Troy Resources Limited revealed that it had acquired long lead time expensive equipment for the development of its West Omai project also in Region 7 next year.

(By Clifford Stanley)