| Bulyanhulu Gold Mine | |
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Bulyanhulu Gold Mine
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| Location | Kahama |
| Region | Shinyanga |
| Country | Tanzania |
| Owner | |
| Company | African Barrick Gold |
| Website | ABG website |
| Year of acquisition | 1999 |
| LSE | ABG |
| Production | |
| Financial year | 2009 |
| Ounces of Gold | 249,000 |
| History | |
| Opened | 2001 |
| Closed | 2034 (expected) |
Bulyanhulu Gold Mine is an underground gold mine in the Shinyanga Region of Tanzania, located 55 kilometres south of Lake Victoria. It is operated by African Barrick Gold.
It is one of four gold mines African Barrick Gold, a subsidiary of Barrick Gold, operates in Tanzania, the other three being Tulawaka, Buzwagi and the North Mara Gold Mine. In the financial year 2009, the four operations produced a combined amount of 716,000 attributable ounces of gold.[1][2]
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Gold mining in Tanzania in modern times dates back to the German colonial period, beginning with gold discoveries near Lake Victoria in 1894. The first gold mine in what was then Tanganyika, the Sekenke Mine, began operation in 1909, and gold mining in Tanzania experienced a boom between 1930 and World War II. By 1967, gold production in the country had dropped to insignificance but was revived in the mid-1970s, when the gold price rose once more. In the late 1990s, foreign mining companies started investing in the exploration and development of gold deposits in Tanzania, leading to the opening of a number of new mines.[3]
Barrick acquired the Bulyanhulu project in 1999 when it purchased Sutton Resources, which was an mineral exploration company.[4] The mine is located 150 kilometres (93 mi) southwest of the city of Mwanza, a regional center. Bulyanhulu opened in 2001,[5] and was built for a capital cost of US$280 million.[6] Following the opening of Bulyanhulu, Tanzania became the third largest producer of gold in Africa, behind South Africa and Mali.[7]
Bulyanhulu consists of an underground mine, a process plant, waste rock dumps, tailing containment, water management ponds, and associated facilities. In 2009, Bulyanhulu employed close to 2,700 people. As of 2009 there was an expected mine life of 25 years remaining.[5] When it opened it was Tanzania's deepest mine.[7]
In 2006 a miner was killed by a falling rock, and in March 2010 a fall of ground was responsible for the death of three miners and the destruction of the drill jumbo they were operating.[8][9] In 2009 Bulyanhulu was awarded a National Award by Tanzania Occupational Safety and Health Authority for their health and safety program.[9][10]
The Bulyanhulu mine has an experienced Emergency Response Team, which is often sent off site to other locations to assist in rescue operations at both operating and closed mines.[9]
Recent production figures for the mine:[5]
| Year | Production | Grade | Cost per ounce | Tonnes processed |
| 2007 | 243,000 ounces | 9.67 g/t | US$ 456 | 860,304 |
| 2008 | 200,000 ounces | 8.18 g/t | US$ 638 | 754,457 |
| 2009 | 249,000 ounces | 8.75 g/t | US$ 651 | 959,175 |
| 2010 |
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