Highlights
  • Definitive Feasibility Study (“DFS”) for Imweru commences;
  • Imweru holds sufficient existing JORC compliant gold resources to support production;
  • Imweru to enter production in the near to medium term, subject to feasibility study results;
  • Both Kibo’s flagship projects now in early development;

Kibo Mining plc (“Kibo” or the “Company”) , the mineral exploration and development company focused on gold, nickel, coal and uranium projects in Tanzania, is delighted to announce the commencement of a Definitive Mining Feasibility Study on the Imweru Gold Project (“Imweru”), Kibo’s flagship gold project within the Lake Victoria Goldfields region of Tanzania. Imweru contains a total estimated Indicated and Inferred gold resource of 550,000 oz. The Imweru DFS will run concurrent to the Rukwa Definitive
Mining Feasibility Study (which is already underway) and means that both the Company’s flagship projects will now be in early development.

The decision to commence the Imweru DFS follows the conclusion of an internal optimization study of the Imweru project. This study indicates that resource data gathered from previous exploration work is sufficiently robust to support viable gold production from Imweru in the near to medium term, subject to necessary feasibility work and mine planning.

Kibo has appointed Minxcon Projects (www.minxcon.co.za), to conduct the Imweru DFS which is estimated to be completed within 12 months. This appointment officially commences the development of the project. The Imweru DFS will be delivered in two clear stages, namely:

  • Stage1: This stage will comprise the Pre–feasibility Study (PFS), covering conventional pre-feasibility elements associated with the development of a potential gold mine. The PFS will be delivered in two phases to ensure systematic de-risking of the project:
    • Phase 1: Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) – a continuation of the ongoing assessment of the Imweru project, aiming to confirm all technical and financial assumptions thus far and to define future feasibility study deliverables.
    • Phase 2: PFS, aiming to further refine the results from the PEA, and to confirm the mining and processing method, mine plan, and economics of the future Imweru Mine.
  • Stage 2: This stage will comprise the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS), which will incorporate all the work done during Stage 1. Stage 2 will aim to finalise the mine design as well as a bankable financial model.

Phase 1, Stage 1 of the DFS, is scheduled for completion by early to mid-December 2014.

Kibo, consistent with its declared strategy, is keen to see commercial development of its projects, and the Imweru Gold Project thus far indicates that:

  • it holds sufficient existing JORC compliant gold resources to support production;
  • there is a high degree of confidence that additional exploration will add to the resource inventory to supplement existing resources and extend prospective mine life;
  • mineralisation appears suitable for traditional processing methodologies and that feed ore would be suitable for a variety of processing options; and
  • significant localised infrastructure exists, recognising the significant gold exploration and mining activities already undertaken in the region.

Louis Coetzee CEO of Kibo Mining said: “Announcing the Imweru DFS is a significant milestone for Kibo. The Company will have both its flagship projects in early development and has now officially entered Stage 3 of its declared three-stage corporate strategy. Stage 1 focussed on the acquisition of projects with good value propositions, Stage 2 focussed on the development of the acquired value propositions and Stage 3 will focus on the realization of the value that was created during Stage 2. Of particular importance is the fact that Rukwa and Imweru were brought to their current status amidst an extremely difficult market in which it was and remains extremely difficult to access funding. This was achieved in accordance with the schedule which was flagged in 2012 at the time Kibo’s new corporate strategy was announced.

Careful planning preceded the decision to commence with the Imweru DFS, to ensure that adequate resources are in place to conduct and manage both studies simultaneously. Particular care was taken to make sure that implementation of the Imweru study will not in any way affect work on the Rukwa Coal to Power Project, which remains the Company’s number one priority”

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[ott_teaser btn_text=”Download” btn_icon=”icon-right-big” btn_url=”https://kibo.energy/wp-content/uploads/Final-RNS-Imweru-Update-DFS-14-Oct-14.pdf” btn_target=”_blank”]Commencement of Definitive Feasibility Study on Imweru Gold Project[/ott_teaser]