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B2Gold Corp. Completes Mill Construction More Than Three Months Ahead of Schedule and Announces an Expanded and Updated Mine Plan for the Fekola Mine Located in Southwestern Mali
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 25, 2017) - B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) (...
About this update from B2gold Corp.
[{"type":"text","content":"B2Gold Corp. Completes Mill Construction More Than Three Months Ahead of Schedule and Announces an Expanded and Updated Mine Plan for the Fekola Mine Located in Southwestern MaliVancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 25, 2017) - B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) (NYSE AMERICAN: BTG) (NSX: B2G) (\"B2Gold\" or the \"Company\") is pleased to announce that the Company has completed construction of the Fekola mill and commenced ore processing, more than three months ahead of schedule and on budget, at the Fekola Mine. Gold is now in the circuit and the first gold pour is anticipated by mid-October 2017. The Company expects to achieve commercial production and produce between 50,000 to 55,000 ounces of gold by the end of 2017. In addition, the Company announces it has completed a new Life of Mine (\"LoM\") plan for the Fekola deposit that projects higher mill throughput and annual gold production, and lower projected operating costs per ounce and all-in sustaining costs (\"AISC\") per ounce of gold than the original (4 million tonnes per annum (\"MTPA\")) plan in the Optimized Feasibility Study (\"OFS\"). The new LoM plan was completed based on the expanded 5 MTPA mill throughput and takes into account an early start-up, increased processing throughput, and improved open-pit design and scheduling versus the OFS (see table below).New Fekola LoM Plan Highlights:A comparison of the OFS and LoM is as follows:Parameters1OFS — 4 MTPA (June 2015)New LoM — 5 MTPA (September 2017)LoM Gold Production (million ounces)3.453.45 LoM (years)12.510Gold Production: LoM ('000 ounces)276345Gold Production: Years 1-3 ('000 ounces)333400Gold Production: Years 1-7 ('000 ounces)350374Operating Cash Cost: LoM (US$/oz)552428Operating Cash Cost: Years 1-3 (US$/oz)464357Operating Cash Cost: Years 1-7 (US$/oz)418391AISC: LoM (US$/oz)752664AISC: Years 1-3 (US$/oz)717604AISC: Years 1-7 (US$/oz)661643 ●   No material change to Feasibility Mineral Reserves with the new resource model, pit and phase designs, and production plan. The contained Mineral Reserve remains 3.34 million ounces2 contained in 43.8 million tonnes at an average grade of 2.37g/t●   No material change to mining production or fleet size●   Processing throughput increased to 5 Mtpa vs. 4 Mtpa in the OFS%...