Gold Fields, AfricaÔÇÖs second-biggest gold producer, has said it may dig a new mine in Mali to expand its annual West African production to one million ounces.
According to a report from Bloomberg, the company is drilling for gold in three areas on the Yanfolila belt, with the most promising area identified as Komana.
The Yanfolila belt, of which Gold Fields controls about 2,500 square kilometres, may contain as much as 44 million ounces of gold.
Gold Fields already produces 700,000 ounces a year from its Tarkwa and Damang mines in Ghana, where it has been operating for the past 15 years and is well established.
With good infrastructure, electricity and water in place, Ghana is said to be the ideal base from which Gold Fields can embark on an expansion programme.
Its aim is to have one million ounces in production or development in West Africa by the end of 2014. The company has previously indicated that its future growth may lie in southern Mali's untapped deposits along the Yanfolila belt.
A decision on whether to dig a mine at Komana could be made within three years. Reaching the one million ounces target for the region could depend on how soon the Malian project is developed, as well as the performance of existing mines.
Gold Fields has already invested a significant amount of money in exploration activities in the Yanfolila belt since it acquired the Komana project from Glencar in November of last year. The company has indicated that it is likely to try and grow through exploration rather than acquisition because the latter is proving to be too expensive.
Gold Fields is thought to have a reserve of about 12.5 million ounces in the underexplored West Africa region.
The company produced 3.4 million ounces in its past financial year from its operations in South Africa, Ghana, Australia and Peru. Production for the quarter to March fell by 11.8 per cent to 793,000 ounces from 900,000 ounces in the previous quarter, after poor performance from its South African operations.
Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, Gold Fields has total attributable mineral reserves of 81 million ounces and mineral resources of 271 million ounces.
