Damang mine is in south western Ghana, approximately 300km by road from Accra the capital and about 50km north west of Tarkwa the main mining town.

Gold Fields holds a 90% attributable portion of the Mineral Resources and Reserve of the mine, with the remaining 10% held by the Ghanaian government

Challenges

Damang mine has experienced high dilution over the past years

• There has been a decrease in the mine call factor since blasting starte
• The company was modelling by assigning about 1 m movement to every blast
• There has been an underestimation of blast movement

Results

• Improved mine call factor.
• Range of movement determined to be between 1.9 – 4.5 m
• Drastic reduction in dilution
• Improved misclassification
• Recovered ore which would have been lost
• Improved reconciliation

“The system actually pays for itself because each blast that is monitored you are able to make gains from that. For the month of December 2018 alone, we were saving close to $260,000. Without the use of the blast monitoring technology, this ore would have been thrown to the waste.”   Selorm Seshie (Unit Manager Geology)

Assumptions

• Average grade of 1.5 g/t
• Metal price of $1,250/ ounce used
• Average density of 2.7 t/m3