Development of the project commenced in May 2019, bringing together the same development teams (Perseus and Lycopodium) that successfully delivered Perseus’ Sissingué Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire ahead of time and on budget.
Having delivered the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) and Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) for Yaouré, Lycopodium undertook the process design, detailed engineering and drafting for the process plant, water services including river abstraction and TSF pumping and decant return, steel-framed process plant buildings and 11 kV power reticulation. The scope also included supply of equipment and materials.
The process plant includes primary crushing, stockpiling and reclaim, semi-autogenous ball-mill-crushing (SABC), grinding, gravity concentration and intensive cyanidation, trash screening, leaching and adsorption, elution, electrowinning, gold room, carbon reactivation, cyanide destruction, tailings disposal, reagents storage and mixing, air and water services and 11 kV internal electrical distribution.
The project was delivered ahead of schedule and under budget, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Full-scale construction commenced in the September quarter of 2019, with COVID manifesting globally only a few months later. Regardless, construction continued throughout 2020 and the stretch target of first gold in December 2020 was achieved.
