KIBALI BREAKS RECORDS ACROSS BOARD, ALL KEY PARAMETERS Barrick Gold Corp.'s Kibali gold mine produced 807,251 ounces of gold in 2018, above its target of 750,000 ounces and 35 per cent higher than its output in the previous year. This was achieved on the back of the successful ramp-up in underground production and a steady improvement in the processing plant recovery and throughput. All amounts expressed in this news release are in U.S. dollars.
Mark Bristow, president and chief executive officer of Barrick, told a media briefing here today that the record production was driven by the shaft operating at nameplate specification and the optimization of the underground materials handling system which has placed Kibali at the leading edge of gold mine automation in Africa.
Despite the high activity level, the mine recorded its safest year to date, with no lost-time injuries in the fourth quarter and no significant environmental incident. Bristow said the mine continued to offset the impact of its operations through environmental projects, such as the 10,130 indigenous trees planted on the site last year, as well as biodiversity initiatives. On the health front, the malaria and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) prevalence rates continued to decrease and stood at 12.9 per cent and 2.8 per cent, respectively, at the year-end.
The resettlement of 1,478 families from the Gorumbwa site to a new village has been successfully completed and will allow the development of the next satellite pit in the mine plan. In addition, continuing brownfields exploration around the mine has identified numerous opportunities for reserve replacement along the KZ trend and around KCD.
Mr. Bristow noted that Kibali's partnership philosophy was continuing to deliver dividends to the local economy, with $39-million paid to Congolese contractors in the last quarter of 2018 alone.
"Our commitment to the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo], made 10 years ago when Randgold started developing Kibali, has not dimmed and under the new banner of Barrick, we expect to continue to make a significant and growing contribution to the country's economy and to unlock further value for all our stakeholders," said Mr. Bristow.
The Kibali mine, located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is one of the largest gold mines in Africa. It comprises an integrated open pit and an underground operation, as well as a 7.2-Mtpa (million tonnes per annum) processing plant. First gold was poured in 2013 from open pit operations and commissioning of the full underground operation was completed at the end of 2017.
Kibali is in the northeast of the DRC, approximately 220 kilometres east of the capital of the Haut Uele province, Isiro, 150 kilometres west of the Ugandan border town of Arua and 1,800 kilometres from the Kenyan port of Mombasa. The mine is owned by Kibali Goldmines SA which is a joint venture company effectively owned 45 per cent by each of Barrick and AngloGold Ashanti and 10 per cent by Societe Miniere de Kilo-Moto. The mine was developed and is operated by Barrick.