Mining and Exploration

Through several years of political unrest, gold mining has proven to be an area that the West African country Burkina Faso can depend on. From less than 10 billion West African CFA Francs at the beginning of this century, revenues from oil and mineral extraction have grown to over 300 billion in the past two years. And among the country’s growing portfolio of world-class mines, the Essakane Gold Mine, Burkina Faso’s largest, stands alone.

In its five-year outlook for Cote d’Ivoire, the International Monetary Fund projects growth of over six percent in each of the years to the end of 2028. If this growth comes to pass - and there is no guarantee that it will - Cote d’Ivoire’s economy will have grown by over a third in a short period of time. One of the drivers for this growth is a government refocuses on the country’s extensive mines, the latest of which to come into operation is the Séguéla gold project.

It is ten years since Business Excellence first visited Ambatovy Joint Venture Project in Madagascar. At that time, the mine was still at the preparatory phase, albeit with serious ambition. With total funding for the project crossing the $5.5 billion threshold, it was, and remains to this day, the largest investment in Madagascar’s history, and has contributed nearly a quarter of the country’s tax revenues since it become operational.

Gold mining in Tanzania goes back to the end of the 19th century, when gold mines were discovered close to Lake Victoria. After several more finds over the course of the 20th century, a culture of gold mining took hold in the country. When the mines were privatized at the end of the 1980s, it opened the door to many of the world’s most highly-regarded mineral mining companies arrived in Tanzania.

Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important issue in the mining sector across Africa, and Namibia is no exception. As a country with a rich history of mining and blessed with multiple extractive assets, it is important for mining operations to consider the long-term impact of their activities on the environment and local communities.

The Kibali goldmine in the Haut-Uélé province of the northeast Democratic Republic of Congo is no ordinary mine. With 812,152 ounces produced in 2021, the combined open pit and underground gold mine is officially the sixth biggest in the world. Now into its 13th year, the gold mine is still considered to have an enormous upside: In addition to an exploration prospect pipeline that continues to expand, its business plan seems set to continue for at least another 10 years. Business Excellence decided to take a closer look.
 

In 2022, the Barrick Gold Corporation marks a quarter of a century operating at the Loulo-Gounkoto Mine in western Mali. At Barrick, which previously operated in the country under the name Randgold Resources, the goal is to stay in the country for another twenty-five years. That sentiment alone tells us a lot about the relationship between the country and the company marketing its silver anniversary year. Business Excellence made the decision to visit the project in order to learn the keys to a successful mining partnership.

In November 2015, Lesedi La Rona, the world’s second-largest gem-quality diamond ever found, was mined at the Karowe Mine in Botswana. The mining team behind the discovery was Lucara Diamonds (formerly called Boteti Mining), a diamond exploration and mining company founded in 2009. In less than six years, the Canadian-registered firm had made a discovery that placed it firmly in the spotlight of industry analysts.

It has been a little over a decade since commercial mining began at the Canadian Malartic Mine in northwestern Quebec, Canada. With production of over 55,000 tonnes per day, the mine is not only the largest in Canada but one of the largest in the world. In 2020, however, the partnership behind the mine announced that it was going to begin construction of surface infrastructure and an underground exploration ramp, in a project known as the Odyssey project.

It has been a decade since Business Excellence first profiled Perseus Mining’s operations in Ghana. At that time, its first mine, the Edikan gold mine, was just about to begin commercial production. In the intervening period, the mine has produced over 2 million ounces of gold and based on current ore reserves, it is expected to recover a further 1.3 million ounces of gold over its remaining life, estimated to be nearly six years.