Pioneer - Mining and Processing
Pioneer is an open-pit mine which currently processes non-refractory ore only. The majority of this, approximately 98%, is processed at the on-site 4.6Mtpa RIP plant. Cyanide heap-leaching is used to treat remaining lower grade ore.
The RIP plant at Pioneer currently consists of three processing lines: one 5.5m x 1.8m SAG mill, one 3.2m x 5.4m ball mill and a sorption and desorption circuit with 200m3 tanks, and two larger processing lines consisting of two 7.5m x 2.5m SAG mills, four 4.0m x 6.0m ball mills and a sorption and desorption circuit with 450m3 tanks. The mine also has 0.7Mtpa heap-leaching facilities to process low-grade ore during the summer months. Following a review of exploration results obtained during 2011, the Group intends to commission a fourth processing line at Pioneer in Q3 2012 and work on this project has already commenced.
During 2011, 31,615,000m3 of material was moved, which represents an increase of 61% on the total material moved during 2010 (19,600,000m3), reflecting the contribution made by the delivery of the final additions to the mining fleet at the beginning of 2011 and changes to the organisation of on-site mining works which were implemented following a comprehensive review at the beginning of 2011. Due to the volume of stripping work conducted during 2011, the backlog of stripping at the end of 2010 was cleared.
The Group is constructing a flotation plant at Pioneer to process refractory ore. The resultant flotation concentrate will be sent to Pokrovskiy where the Group is installing a pressure oxidation facility to process and recover gold from the concentrates. More information on this facility can be found here.
