The scope of the contract extension includes load and haul, drill and blast, grade control, and crusher feed

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Resolute Mining awards $185m contract extension at the Mako gold mine to Perenti. (Credit: Peter H from Pixabay)

Australian gold mining company Resolute Mining has awarded a contract extension worth around $185m to mining services company Perenti for surface mining activities at its Mako gold mine in Senegal.

The contract extension has been awarded to Perenti’s surface mining business in Africa, which is African Mining Services, for a period of four years.

The scope of the contract extension includes load and haul, drill and blast, grade control, and crusher feed.

African Mining Services has been performing the surface mining activities at the Mako gold mine since 2017, stated Perenti.

According to the company, the contract extension will see streamlining the management of the existing fleet and equipment at the gold project. This is expected to have a low capital expenditure requirement, while producing considerable returns, said Perenti.

Perenti managing director and CEO Mark Norwell said: “The Mako project has been a part of the AMS portfolio for several years and we are pleased that our strong operational performance and relationship with Resolute Mining, has allowed us to execute this contract extension, which supports our 2025 Strategy.

“We are confident that our dedicated, predominantly local workforce will continue to deliver value for our client. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Resolute Mining at the Mako project as we seek to deliver enduring value and certainty for all our stakeholders.”

Located in eastern Senegal, the Mako gold mine is an open pit mine owned and operated by Petowal Mining, a Senegalese subsidiary of Resolute Mining.

Resolute Mining owns a 90% stake in Petowal Mining, while the remaining 10% interest is held by the Government of Senegal.

The carbon in leach processing plant at the Mako gold mine has over two million metric tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of installed capacity and includes a crushing circuit, an 8MW SAG mill and gold extraction circuit.