I was interested to see in one of the latest press releases from Barrick Gold that 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of Randgold’s acquisition of the Kibali gold project in the DRC from Moto Goldmines. I have been following this project for just about as long as I have been covering Africa’s mining industry (20 years) and I’m in no doubt that one has to give huge credit to Randgold (now merged with Barrick, of course) for managing to develop not just a gold mine at the remote Kibali site but one of the biggest gold mines in the world.
Kibali was not a new discovery when it was acquired. It forms part of the famous Kilo-Moto greenstone belt, where the first mine, Kilo, was opened around 1905 with the Moto gold mine following in 1911. I don’t think anyone now knows with any precision how much gold was produced from the goldfield prior to Kibali being established but I have seen a figure of 300 tonnes quoted for the period up to 1960, the year in which the colonial era ended. My understanding is that Kibali has actually been built on the site of Durba, one of the old mines dating back to the colonial period.
When acquired by Randgold, the site was almost impossibly remote and I well remember doing an interview six or seven years ago with Mark Bristow, then the CEO of Randgold and now the CEO of Barrick, in which he recalled that the journey to Kibali from the border with Uganda needed six-wheel drive vehicles and could take several days. Building this vast mine, which is a combined underground and open-pit operation, must surely rank as one of the most challenging logistical exercises ever carried out for a mining project in Africa, given that almost every bit of heavy equipment had to be brought into the DRC from the ports of either Mombasa (in Kenya) or Dar es Salaam (in Tanzania).
Speaking to media in Kinshasa recently, Bristow noted that Kibali – which has a workforce of around 5 000 employees and contractors – has now contributed US$2,7 billion to the Congolese economy. “Ten years ago, we went to a remote part of Africa and found what we believed was a real world-class opportunity but one which would require a major investment as well as a lot of courage to develop,” he said. “That opportunity became Kibali, which poured its first gold in September 2013 and ramped up to full production in 2018.
“We invested in the DRC without any incentives provided by the government, only a clear and equitable mining code. Last year, however, the then Government unilaterally imposed a new code which we believe puts the Congolese mining industry at risk and could discourage future investment. We continue to engage with the Government on this issue, and were encouraged when the new President, his excellency Felix Tshisekedi, outlined his vision, of attracting foreign investment and developing the industry in a spirit of partnership, to Barrick’s executive chairman John Thornton at a meeting earlier this year. It is this partnership that enabled the creation of Kibali and supports Barrick’s search for new world-class gold deposits in the DRC.”
The underground mine at Kibali already ranks as one of the most advanced in the global industry in terms of mechanisation and is now being developed to the next technological level, which will allow both manned and unmanned operations. The move to autonomous mining has involved the transfer of skills from expatriate instructors to Kibali’s predominantly – more than 90 % – Congolese workforce.
Another unique feature of Kibali – which, incidentally is co-owned by Barrick (45 %), AngloGold Ashanti (45 %) and SOKIMO (10 %) with Barrick as operator – is that it is probably the only mine in Africa using hydropower on a meaningful scale. As Modern Mining reported last month (June), with the commissioning in 2018 of its third dedicated hydropower plant, Azambi, the mine now has a total hydropower capacity of 44 MW, sufficient to supply approximately 80 % of its power demand in the rainy season. These hydropower plants – all located within a 30 km radius of Kibali – are supplemented by three thermal power stations able to generate 32 MW.
According to Bristow, Kibali remains on track to meet or beat its 2019 production forecast of 750 000 ounces. This makes it a seriously big gold mine and I can’t think of another operation in Africa that comes even close. Who would have thought a decade ago that such an outcome was possible, given the instability in the DRC and the almost total lack of infrastructure then available to support the development of a major project? Kudos to everyone involved – in my opinion, they’ve pulled off a near miracle, in the process transforming a remote and neglected backwater of the Congo into a thriving new growth point.
Arthur Tassell
