| Location: | Located approximately 40 kilometres north of the town of Sepon, in Savannakhet Province, south-central Laos. | | Product: | Gold doré | | Mining method: | Open-pit mining | | Treatment rate: | 2.5Mt/a | | Processing: | Conventional carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit | | Commenced operation: | December 2002 | | Product sales: | Gold doré bars are transported to refineries where they are made into gold bullion. These bars are then sold to jewellers, manufacturers and banks. |
Overview
Oxiana Limited owns the Sepon gold and copper operations in south-central Laos and has been producing gold at Sepon since December 2002.
In early 2005, an expansion of the original gold processing facility was completed doubling the capacity of the gold processing plant, to 2.5Mt/a, with a new crusher and mill allowing more flexibility and efficiency in the treatment of Sepon ore.
Geology
At Sepon several separate gold deposits and one copper deposit occur in a horse shoe shape within a five square kilometre area. The currently defined gold deposits are Discovery, Discovery West-Colluvial, Nalou, Namkok West, Namkok East, Vang Nang and Luang. Gold mineralisation occurs as fine disseminations in highly altered calcareous sedimentary rocks with many affinities to the Carlin style gold deposits of Nevada, USA.
 For more information download the Sepon Geology Factsheet (PDF 144.3kb) Processing
The Sepon gold processing plant is a standard carbon-in-leach gold processing facility. It treats ore from the oxide gold deposits which are located in a horseshoe shape around the plant. The current operations mine and treat oxide and partial oxide ore. The significant deposits of primary type ore cannot be treated through the existing plant but gold can be extracted from this ore using alternative processing methods. Studies are now underway to investigate the feasibility of treating this ore at Sepon. The extraction of this gold has the potential to significantly increase the scale and life of the Sepon gold operation.
Download the Gold Process flowsheet and description of process (PDF 170.0kb) Production
In 2007 the operation produced 102,390oz of gold, taking the total gold produced since the commencement of operations to almost 800,000 ounces of gold. Production for 2008 is expected to be between 90,000oz to 100,000oz. View recent production results Future developments
The Sepon area contains significant resources of primary gold material and a study into the potential of building a facility to treat that material is underway. The proposed addition of this plant would also see an extension to mine life. Related pages
Overview - Sepon Gold and Copper Operations
Sepon Copper
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