The company expects to achieve the first gold pour from the project’s Homase South pit within two months
The Homase South pit in the AKHM Project is expected to achieve first gold pour within two months. (Credit: Eric Chegwin from FreeImages)
GoldStone Resources has secured environmental permit from the Ghanaian government to develop the Homase South pit within the Akrokeri-Homase Gold Project (AKHM Project) in the country.
The environmental permit granted by the Ghanaian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a key permit needed for the company to move ahead with the construction of the open pit gold project.
First gold pour from the AKHM Project is expected to be achieved within two months, said GoldStone Resources.
In December 2020, the company was granted a 10-year mining lease, which was ratified by the Ghanaian Parliament.
The mining lease and the environmental permit are a prerequisite for procedural operational permits, which are anticipated to be issued on a timely basis, the company said.
GoldStone Resources will apply to the EPA for the environmental permit to be expanded to cover the entire expanded mining lease in respect of the AKHM Project to include both the Homase North and Homase Central pits.
GoldStone Resources CEO Emma Priestley said: “We have been eagerly awaiting receipt of this permit so that we can start construction and mining.
“The permitting process has taken approximately six months longer than what we initially anticipated, but we are delighted to now be in a position to commence the next stage of operations at the AKHM Project.”
Located in south-western Ghana, the AKHM Project is said to hold 602,000 ounces of gold resource at an average grade of 1.77 g/t. The existing resource at the project is confined to a 4km zone of the Homase Trend, which includes the Homase North, Homase Pit, and Homase South pits.
The AKHM Project hosts two historic producing mines in the form of the Akrokeri Ashanti mine and the Homase pit.
The Homase open pit, which is being redeveloped by the company, is located nearly 12km along strike from AngloGold Ashanti’s Obuasi gold mine.