Capital has picked up about US$10 million worth of drill rigs and plant from Perenti Group to allow it to quickly expand its provision of services to B2Gold Corp at the Fekola gold mine in Mali under a new contract.
The London-listed drilling and mining services contractor said it would now provide mine development and grade control drilling at Fekola to the end of 2024. With forecast output up to 600,000oz this year, Fekola is one of Africa’s largest gold mines. Capital started work there in the middle of this year.
It bought 10 drill rigs from African Mining Services (AMS), part of Perenti, as well as associated equipment and staff accommodation, taking its drill fleet to about 140 rigs.
Capital said its forecast capital spend for this year would now be $60-65 million versus its previous $50-55m guidance. Revenue guidance remains at $280-290m – raised from $270-280m after its recent first-half results were reported.
Executive chairman Jamie Boyton said Capital had been opportunistic in buying the AMS rigs to enable a faster start to new work at Fekola.
“We look forward to a strong contribution from the new contract in 2023 and 2024,” he said.
