GUYANA Goldfields Inc. has announced that it has signed an open pit contract mining agreement with STRACON GyM International S.A.C. (“STRACON”) in order to meet higher waste stripping requirements through to the end of 2021, as forecasted in its optimised life of mine plan.

In a release, Goldfields said that STRACON is a leading world class contractor focused on open pit and underground mining in the Caribbean and Latin America. It has extensive experience in providing efficient and innovative mining and earthworks services to international mining companies with the highest standards in safety, environment and community relations.

STRACON, along with Guyana Goldfields, is committed to the employment of local personnel and the utilisation of local suppliers of goods and services, the company said in its release. STRACON participated in a tender process along with other mining contractors for mining of overburden at the Aurora Gold Mine. The mining requirement is to cover a three-and-a-half-year peak in waste mining requirements, which is in excess of the company´s own mining fleet capacity, and will allow the company to focus on mining of gold-containing ore for processing.

STRACON is expected to commence work on July 1, 2018.
In addition, following the positive results from accelerating selective underground mining from the Optimised Life of Mine study, the company has initiated and continues to advance the bidding process for the contract mining of the initial underground development.

A site visit for potential underground contract miners has been completed and the company has initiated the movement of the previously purchased underground mining equipment to Guyana. The company is targeting the commencement of underground development in the fourth quarter of 2018.