Post by
Luke555 on Jan 27, 2024 3:03pm
IAMGOLD - $3B CAPITAL INVESTMENT...
Having spent a lifetime in the mining industry and having been though several start-ups, I’d like to share an overview regarding the capital costs involved in building the large-scaled, long life Cote gold mine. First, it will be an open pit mining operation rather than an underground mine. The projected capital cost upon completion will exceed 3B dollars. Let me give you a breakdown of the of the major capital costs expenditures:
Purchase Major Mining Equipment
-Drilling Equipment - Need several large drills. Approx. $200K each.
-Loading Equipment – Several Large Shovels. Approx. $300K each.
-Hauling Equipment – Fleet of large mining trucks. The cote gold mine currently has 14 of the mining trucks, which can carry around 200 tonnes of ore in a single load, and will have 23 when production fully ramps up. Approx. $175K each.
Infrastucture, Plant & Process Equipment
-Roads, power, water and removal of overburden and waste rock. Labour intensive.
-Construct Plant facility – Materials and labour.
-Purchase ore processing equipment.
According to the 4th QT preliminary report, the company reports that it has begun the commissioning activities and things are progressing well with the start-up of the primary crushing circuit ongoing. It will be testing the various processing equipment over the next couple of months. Initial production remains on track for March 2024.
Once completed, the Cote gold mine will be Ontario’s first mine to use automated vehicles and it will be a state of the art mining operation. The above summary basically describes what you get for your 3B capital investment including financing costs and you haven’t produced an oz. of gold…