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Gold starts to flow at Otjikoto

Namibia’s second gold mine announced this week that the first gold pour occurred, ahead of schedule at the Otjikoto gold mine, situated 300 kilometres north of Windhoek. B2Gold has thus been able to open the project in record time.
B2Gold received the Otjikoto Mining Licence in December 2012, and started with bush-clearing in January 2013. With the ground-breaking ceremony held on 26 April 2013, construction of the Otjikoto Gold Mine officially commenced. From then, the team has placed over 1.3 million cubic meters of earth fill, over 20,000 cubic meters of concrete, and has worked over 3 million man-hours.

Namibian workers and artisans with skills in concrete, welding, brick-laying, pipe-fitting, electrical, carpentry, surveying, plumbing, and many others, worked safely and productively with Namibian and expatriate managers and trainers to develop their skills. The nations represented in the construction crew include Namibia, South Africa, Canada, United States, Russia, Ghana, Italy, Portugal, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Philippines, Nicaragua and more.
B2Gold’s wholly owned subsidiary, B2Gold Namibia, entered a transition phase several months ago from construction to steady state. The focus of this plan is the end of construction and preparation for production and operations, with a ramp down in construction activities and manpower until the end of the year, and ramp up for steady state operations.

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