afrol News, 13 June - Construction has now begun of the US$ 27 million Samira Hill Gold Project in Niger, the largest mining project in the poor Sahelian country. The construction of the mine, carbon-in-leach plant and related facilities is projected to be completed by the third quarter of 2004.

The Canadian mining company Etruscan Resources today announced that construction works in the Samira Hill Gold Project in Niger now had begun.

The US$ 27 million debt financing for the Samira Hill Gold Project, which was granted by the African Development Bank (ADB) and other institutions on 23 May, had been completed and approved by the Board of Directors of the Nigerien operating company, Société des Mines du Liptako SA (SML).

SML is a limited liability company governed by the laws of Niger and is owned 80 percent by African GeoMin Mining Development Corporation Limited (AGMDC) and 20 percent by the government of Niger. AGMDC is in turn owned by Semafo (50%) and Etruscan (50%).

According to the release by Etruscan, the Samira Hill Gold Project promises great revenues for the company and the Nigerien government. An external assessment had concluded that both the resource and the reserve estimates for the Samira Hill Gold Project data and methodologies had "met or exceeded all standards."

First year production of 135,000 ounces was scheduled at a cash cost of US$ 177 per ounce. The mine was expected to "produce an average of 100,000 ounces of gold per year at an average cash cost of US$ 203 per ounce," Etruscan says.

The Samira Hill and Libiri deposits, which comprise the current mineable reserves, are only two of a number of significant gold deposits within what is now recognised as an emerging gold belt known as the "Samira Horizon".

- Both deposits remain open at depth, says the Etruscan statement. By constructing a central processing facility at Samira, future exploration was to "target the development of satellite gold deposits within easy trucking distance of the mill, along the 50 kilometre long gold-bearing Samira Horizon."

The Samira Horizon emerges some 50 kilometres west of Niger's capital Niamey, just west of the Niger River. It stretches south-westwards, just crossing the border into Burkina Faso (east of Sebba). Being close to the capital, the Samira Horizon has a relatively good road connection to the outside world.

The area has however been mined for gold for many years. Approximately 20,000 artisanal workers have been active in the area, producing an estimated 1000 kg/year. It is not known whether these workers will be compensated for the new industrial mining, which is taking over the area.

Although the Samira gold mining project is relatively small in an international scale, its effects on the Nigerien economy could be measurable. Niger remains the world's second poorest country (after Sierra Leone) and one of the world's less industrialised. The population of Niger almost exclusively lives from agriculture and livestock, which is regularly affected by large-scale drought disasters.

The Canadian company Etruscan, meanwhile, also is engaged in diamond mining in South Africa and gold mining in Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire.

So far, Etruscan has not been involved in any major environmental and human rights scandal, as so many of its colleague mining companies have. According to "Etruscan's corporate philosophy," it is committed to "making a positive impact on the social, environmental and economic conditions in Niger for its employees, their families and the communities in which they work."

By staff writer

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories