Newmont Mining Corporation hopes to more than double its gold production in Africa by 2015. The projects in Ghana will help the company to produce 1.2 million ounces as per a senior executive of the company.
The Group Executive of African Operations for Newmont Mining, Adriaan van Kersen, said that the company hoped that the board would approve an investment in the range of $700 million to $1 billion in the month of March for its Akyem project.
The Akyem project is expected to hit commercial production by end 2013 or beginning of 2014. Mr van Kersen added that the African region would grow from 500,000 ounces of gold to 1,2 million ounces between now and 2015. He was speaking at a mining conference in Cape Town.
Newmont Mining is also looking out for projects beyond Ghana. It already has assets in Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea. The joint venture in Guinea is with BHP Billiton to develop the Nimba iron ore project that is on the border of Ivory Coast, Guinea and Liberia.
Adriaan van Kersen said that for the project here to be economical and see day light the iron ore would have to be transported via Liberia. The two joint venture partners were as of now negotiating a transportation agreement with the governments of the countries involved.