Owere Mines gets partners

LionGold, a subsidiary of Signature Metals Limited, has entered into a partnership with CBMI Construction Company Limited (CBMI) to modify, commission, operate and manage its gold processing plant in Ghana.

The partnership was formed to improve the return profile of Owere Mines’ gold tailings agreement with B&C Gold Pty Ltd (“B&C”) that was announced in January 2014.

The agreement will allow Owere Mines to fully utilise its existing plant and equipment, which have the capabilities to process surface oxide ore, while it continues its exploration at its 100%-owned Konongo Gold Project.

Income from gold produced under the agreement is expected to sustain exploration activities at the Konongo Gold Project through to production.

This marks the first appointment of its Chinese partner subsequent to the Memorandum of Understanding signed in September 2013 to engage CBMI as a primary contractor for its gold projects.

CBMI is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China’s state-owned engineering contractor giant, SINOMA Group Ltd.
LionGold owns a 77% interest in ASX-listed Signature Metals Limited, which in turn has a 70% stake in Owere Mines, Ghana. B&C will supply and sell to Owere Mines 1 million dry metric tonnes of gold bearing tailings over a period of three years and two months.

Owere Mines will be responsible for the treatment and processing of tailings and recovery of gold thereafter and will receive associated income from the gold produced, net of associated costs and the purchase price of the tailings.
As such, CBMI has been engaged to undertake the operation and management of the Owere gold plant during the 36-month term of the gold tailings project.

CBMI will receive a fee and undertake works which include engineering design, procurement, supply, delivery to site, erection works, testing, start-up, guarantees and production.

LionGold intends to leverage CBMI’s over 50 years of experience in engineering consultancy, construction, equipment manufacturing, operations and maintenance to improve the project’s return profile by designing a more efficient and affordable gold processing plant to obtain higher gold recovery rates.

Wang Bao Zhan, Marketing Director of CBMI stated, “Over the recent months, CBMI has worked closely with LionGold and found the Group to have a capable and credible management team with attractive plans for their gold mining projects around the world.

“We have visited Ghana twice to look at the Konongo Gold Project, and we are excited to be involved in Owere Mines modification and inauguration of its gold processing plant. We look forward to more opportunities to work with LionGold.”

Delivery of the first parcel of tailings from B&C has commenced while processing of the gold tailings is expected to follow in the coming months with the involvement of CBMI.

Since March 2013, Owere Mines has ceased trial mining activities and reverted to an aggressive exploration programme to fast-track an assessment of the more extensive high-grade refractory sulphide gold ore underground.
Its existing processing plant, which has an annual processing capacity of 320,000 tonnes of ore, has since been put on care and maintenance.

CBMI Construction Co., Ltd. (CBMI) is a private company held by SINOMA. LionGold Corp Ltd. has rapidly established itself in the global gold mining industry and now holds 7.5 million ounces of gold resources, with 810,000 ounces classified as reserves.

Source: www.liongoldcorp.com