Dowding, Reynard and Associates (DRA) has almost completed Phase 1 of the re-opening of Kalana Mine 300km south of Bamako in Mali. This plant, much of which is housed in enclosed buildings, was originally built in 1985 with the assistance of the former Soviet Union. It operated until 1991 and at its peak produced 500kg of gold annually. The mine has measured, indicated and inferred underground resources of 944,070 ounces (2,9 million tonnes at 10.0g/t). Kalana mine is owned by Avnel Gold (80%) and the Malian Government (20%).

Phase 1 of the project involved the reconstruction of the plant using, at client¡¯s request, as much of the original equipment as possible to recover gravity gold. Fabrication began in April 2003 and at that time the orders for long lead items including the cone crusher, Knelson concentrator, MCCs, screens and winder equipment were placed. All electricals on the mine will be refurbished to South African standards and DRA Technical Services will upgrade the winders on both shafts. Infrastructure, built by the Russians, was still in good condition.

The new Knelson concentrator will recover gold from the ground ore. Coarse tails will be stockpiled for re-processing and fine tails will be pumped through to the thickener and on to the original tailings dam also for future re-processing.

Procurement and fabrication were completed in South Africa in August and shipped to site in Mali where DRA crews are proceeding with construction. The plant will be commissioned at the end of November at a feed rate of 5000tpm through the existing mill.

It is envisaged that Phase 2 of the Kalana project will be the construction of a full carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant with a designed throughput of 200 000tpm of ROM ore. During 2004 a feasibility study will be completed by Avnel.

DRA specialises in providing technologically advanced mineral processing plants and engineering services and undertakes all aspect of plant design from initial testing and piloting to final commissioning, plant extensions, upgrades and operations.