Australian gold producer Troy Resources has purchased more than $1.1bn worth of mining equipment to help kick-start operations at its $87m Karouni Gold mine in the West Omai region of Guyana, by next year.
The purchased equipment includes 12 Doosan DA40 trucks and three Doosan DX 500 excavators manufactured in South Korea by Doosan and sold by Farm Supplies.
In addition to delivery of the equipment, Farm Supplies will also provide training for its Guyanese operators and technicians for using and maintaining the new equipment.
The company claimed that the purchase of Doosan equipment is the largest ever made in Latin America or the Caribbean.
The Karouni project, a Cuyuni, Region Seven (Cuyuni Mazaruni) project, is currently preparing for the construction phase, including works to set-up a ball mill, mine operations, employee housing and other infrastructure.
Following the release of the preliminary economic assessment (PEA) and the scoping study in January, and the PEA technical report on the Karouni project in March this year, the company considered two open cut pits, Smarts and Hicks, and one underground mine for the project.
With a mine life of more than seven years, the mine is expected to produce a total of 633,000oz of gold during its life time, 90,000oz of gold a year and 102,000oz of gold in the first year of operation.
According to Troy Resources CEO Ken Nilsson, the Karouni project will not only benefit the Guyana Government but also locals, in the form of generating employment and developing local infrastructure.
The mine is expected to employ around 300 workers, including contractors.
Troy plans to complete the construction work on the mine before mid 2015 and start production between this December and February 2015.