Orea completes Montagne d’Or Gold Project modifications

“This is a major milestone for permitting of Montagne d’Or, one of the top undeveloped gold deposits in the Guiana Shield,” commented Rock Lefrançois, President and CEO of Orea.

The Montagne d’Or joint venture (owned 44.99% by Orea and 55.01% by Nord Gold SE) launched additional engineering and environmental studies in early 2019 for project modifications and improvements subsequent to the bankable feasibility study completed in 2017 and public consultation held in 2018. The studies principally ad-dressed mine design, access road layout, hybrid on-site power generation and quarry development for construction material. They also included additional fauna and flora inventories, geotechnical drilling, ground geophysical surveys, geochemical analysis and laboratory test work.

The complimentary studies, which involved a number of international and French and local consulting firms, are now substantially complete with final fauna and flora surveys over the selected Natural Compensation Site to be conducted in February 2021. The current schedule is to have all draft versions of the permitting dossiers to be completed by the end of December 2020 with final versions to be produced in 1Q21.

The principal components of the completed studies include:

• Tailings storage facility redesign, lowering the height of retainment dams and dam break study.
• On-site hybrid solar power generation, eliminating the environmental impacts of connecting the mine to the local power grid, which involved the construction of a 106 km aerial power line, reducing the overall carbon emissions of the project by 80%.
• Waste management plan and waste rock storage redesign to avoid acid drainage.
• Hydrogeological modelling, detailed water management, water balance and contact water pond design.
• Quarry development for construction material and multi-criterion comparative analysis of the studied quarry site alternatives.
• Detailed redesign of the 125 km access road from Saint-Laurent du Maroni, stormwater and safety devices, bridges, watercourse crossings, retaining walls and rehabilitation of abandoned sections.
• Hazardous material transport study and supply, transport and storage of explosives.
• Overall project mass balance and site closure and rehabilitation plan.
• Natural Compensation Site development.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/23122020/orea-completes-montagne-dor-gold-project-modifications/