Buzwagi mine to close in 2020
Dar es Salaam. The Buzwagi gold mine will not close down its operations until 2020, it has been clarified.
Plans were afoot for the mine to sell some of the assets that were no longer needed in an auction.
Nonetheless, according to a statement released on Tuesday, March 6, the auction has been pushed back until further notice.
The statement explains that over the past few years, the mine has been engaging with the government, employees and communities surrounding the mine, and other stakeholders over closure plan, activities and time frame for the ultimate planned closure of all mining and processing operations.
“This all forms part of Buzwagi’s extensive no-harm 2020 programme, which is well known in the region,” read part of the statement.
Opened in 2009 as an open pit mine, the firm claims to have mined more ore than it was able to process, saying the excess ore was stockpiled on the site and now the open pit is close to running out of commercially viable gold.
It went on to explain that the stockpiled ore will be processed in order to continue producing gold until 2020 as previously announced.
“As mining of the open pit is largely complete, we made the decision to commence an auction process to dispose of mining equipment and other associated stocks and spares in the mine warehouse. The auction is only for the equipment, which will no longer be required in the remaining processing operations,” it further clarified.
Currently, Buzwagi is under a Tanzanian national and has a work force of 287 locals and one foreigner.
“Acacia is a committed development partner of Tanzania and works closely with the regions and districts around its mines, and confirms that it has paid all of the local service levies that it owes,” read another part of the statement.
The current lifespan the mine is estimated to be three years with one year of mining and the others of processing stockpiles based on proven and probable gold reserves of 0.6 million ounces.
