Gramalote Project - Colombia
On December 23, 2019, the Company and AngloGold Ashanti Limited ("AGA") entered into an amended and restated shareholders agreement, under which B2Gold agreed to sole fund the first $13.9 million of 2020 budgeted expenditures on the Gramalote Project in Colombia, following which B2Gold and AGA will each hold a 50% ownership interest in the joint venture (currently 48.3% B2Gold and 51.7% AGA) and B2Gold would continue its role of manager of the Gramalote joint venture, which it assumed on January 1, 2020. The parties will continue to have equal representation on the joint venture management committee. Following the expenditure of the sole fund amount, each joint venture partner will fund its share of expenditures pro rata.
B2Gold and AGA have agreed on a budget for the feasibility study on the Gramalote Project of approximately $37.4 million through the end of 2020. This budget will fund 42,500 metres of infill drilling to confirm and upgrade the existing Inferred Mineral Resources to the Indicated category, and 7,645 metres of geotechnical drilling for site infrastructure. The Company currently expects to complete all drilling by the end of May 2020. In addition, the budget will fund feasibility work including an updated mineral resource estimate, detailed mine planning, additional environmental studies, metallurgical test work, engineering and detailed economic analysis.
B2Gold, as manager, plans to continue the feasibility work with the goal of completing a final feasibility study by December 31, 2020. Due to the amount of work completed by AGA over the past several years, including extensive testing programs, the work with local communities and small miners, and the high level of engineering performed in 2017 for an internal study, the work remaining to reach final feasibility is not extensive. The main work program for feasibility is infill drilling to confirm and upgrade the Inferred Mineral Resources to the Indicated category.
On January 21, 2020, the Company announced positive results from the updated Gramalote PEA for the Gramalote Ridge deposit at the Gramalote Project. Based on the positive results from the Gramalote PEA, the Company believes that the Gramalote Project has the potential to become a large, low-cost open-pit gold mine, subject to completion of ongoing infill drilling, which commenced in November 2019, and the results of a final feasibility study expected by the end of 2020.
The Gramalote Project has several key infrastructure advantages, including: reliable water supply - high rainfall region and located next to the Nus River; adjacent to a national highway, which connects directly to Medellin and to a major river with port facilities, capable of bringing supplies by barge to within 70 kilometres of the site; proximity to the national electricity grid with ample low-cost power and a stable record of hydroelectric power; and a skilled labour workforce within Colombia. In addition, B2Gold expects the Gramalote Project to benefit from several key operational advantages, including: excellent metallurgical characteristics of the ore, which results in high recovery rates at low processing costs; relatively low strip ratio in the mine; and ability to mine and process higher grade ore in the initial years of the mine life resulting in improved project economics.
Seems to Me B2Gold has been working nonstop in Columbia, Probably never even been served a "stop working order"
Very Fishy......One of these companies is not telling the full story....