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West Africa is a central global gold-producing region, holding a crucial position in the modern global gold supply chain. Places like Ghana, Mali, and Burkina Faso have tons of gold reserves and pump out a considerable amount each year. All those plentiful deposits draw in a host of smaller exploration companies, medium-sized operators, and large foreign investors. But getting the gold out isn‘t easy. You‘ve got tricky rock formations, lousy roads and power supplies, and projects that drag on forever. That‘s why more mine operators are turning to the EPC approach—where one contractor handles the engineering, buys the materials, and builds everything. Choosing a solid EPC partner can make or break the whole thing.
The scope of work for EPC contractors includes process design, equipment procurement, on-site construction, and commissioning. They are responsible for the entire project. The EPC contractor assumes single-point accountability for all project phases. This avoids the problem of shirking responsibility that can occur with multi-party collaboration and mitigates the risks inherent in multi-party coordination.
One key advantage of EPC delivery is the use of standardized modular plant design, which helps accelerate the overall project timeline.
In a modular EPC approach, significant sections of a gold processing plant—such as crushing, grinding, CIL/CIP leaching, elution, and tailings handling—are designed as proven, repeatable modules rather than fully customized systems. These modules are based on previous projects and can be quickly adapted to different plant capacities and ore characteristics.
Because the modules are pre-engineered, engineering, equipment fabrication, and site preparation can proceed in parallel. While civil works are underway on site, key equipment and steel structures can be manufactured off-site, reducing idle time and minimizing delays caused by local conditions.
For gold projects in West Africa, where logistics, weather, and infrastructure can impact construction, standardized modular design helps EPC contractors deliver plants faster, with more predictable schedules and lower execution risk.
Typically, EPC contractors prepare a total cost breakdown for the entire project, including budgets for each engineering module and any small components. The owner pays a single, fixed contract sum.
Cost overruns are a common and significant risk in gold mining projects. A shortage of funds can jeopardize the project's continuation. Therefore, the EPC model's fixed-price contract, based on a comprehensive upfront cost breakdown, directly mitigates this risk by capping the owner's financial exposure. This payment structure is particularly advantageous for small to medium-sized projects across West Africa.
Mali ranks as the third biggest gold producer in Africa. Some standout mines there include Loulo-Gounkoto, Fékola, plus Sadiola and Yatela – pretty much all of them work with ore that's decent but not super rich.
Most mining in Mali occurs through open-pit mining. But when you get to those deeper, richer veins – like down in Loulo-Gounkoto – they have to switch to underground methods. A few of these underground spots get really hot, sometimes reaching 50°C, so they need special cooling gear to keep workers safe.
For processing the ore, many places start with gravity separation to concentrate it first (Loulo-Gounkoto does that), then move on to CIP, which is basically cyanidation right in the tanks. Fékola's softer oxide stuff can go straight into cyanidation and pull out over 90% of the gold pretty easily. Over at Sadiola, though, the sulfide ores are trickier – they've got this coating around the gold. Hence, you need pretreatment, such as roasting, bio-oxidation, or pressure oxidation, before the cyanide step works properly.
Burkina Faso has really come up as a gold producer in West Africa lately – output has shot up quite a bit over the past few years. Most of the deposits sit along this greenstone belt that cuts through the south-central part of the country, and it's all tied into the bigger West African Craton.
The gold there is mostly in shallow, softer oxide layers that aren't too hard to get at. That's why pretty much everyone uses open-pit mining. Only a handful of operations switch over to underground stuff later on, once they've worked through the easier near-surface material.
Ghana, known as the "Gold Coast," is one of Africa's most mature gold mining markets.
Ghana has one of the strictest and most comprehensive mining regulatory frameworks in Africa, with high environmental protection requirements. All mining projects must undergo environmental impact assessments, and a detailed Mine Closure Plan (or Closure and Rehabilitation Plan) must be submitted and financially guaranteed from the outset. The design, construction, and monitoring standards for tailings dams are incredibly high.
Ghana gold mining projects predominantly adopt internationally accepted and professional project delivery models, namely EPC or EPCM. These models are preferred as they provide contractors with mature management systems and experience, better ensuring project compliance and possessing professional design and integration capabilities.
The gold mining scene in Côte d'Ivoire is really taking off right now. Starting in 2024, they've uncovered a few big-time deposits – like Koné with over 150 tonnes, Tanda around the same, and Doropo pushing things further. Output has jumped significantly, rising from just 10 tonnes in 2012 to about 58 tonnes in 2024. Folks are expecting it to hit around 62 tonnes come 2025.
Côte d'Ivoire has this solid setup with policies that are pretty straightforward, open, and good for outsiders putting money in. That 2014 Mining Law gets a lot of credit for attracting foreign capital, though the folks in charge are clearly gearing up to tweak it so the country gets a bigger slice of mining profits.
When you stack it up against those inland neighbors in West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire's got a way better setup – decent roads, reliable ports, and cheaper power bills. All that makes logistics smoother and cuts down significantly on headaches and expenses for EPC jobs.
If you would like to learn about gold mining across Africa, please click: African Gold Processing Plants
EPC contractors begin with ore test work and metallurgical analysis to evaluate gold recoverability and identify potential processing challenges. Based on ore characteristics, an appropriate process route—such as CIL, CIP, or heap leaching—is selected to balance recovery, cost, and operational complexity.
The design phase also encompasses overall plant layout, optimizing for material flow efficiency, operational safety, and future expandability. At this stage, EPC contractors provide capital and operating cost estimates to project owners, providing clear capital expenditure (CapEx) and long-term operating cost (OpEx) estimates.
EPC contractors are responsible for selecting and supplying key mineral processing equipment, including crushers, mills, leaching tanks, and gold recovery systems. Equipment selection focuses on reliability, suitability for local operating conditions, and ease of maintenance.
Procurement typically combines international sourcing of critical equipment with local procurement of auxiliary materials and structures, helping to control costs and shorten delivery times. A unified procurement plan governs quality, schedule, and cost to reduce project risk.
Construction services cover civil works, structural installation, and mechanical erection of the processing plant. EPC contractors coordinate on-site activities to ensure that construction progress aligns with equipment delivery and project milestones.
This phase also includes the installation of piping, electrical systems, and automation, forming a complete, integrated plant system ready for commissioning.
During commissioning, EPC contractors conduct cold and hot commissioning to verify equipment performance and process stability. This is followed by trial production and ramp-up support to help the plant reach design capacity and recovery targets.
Operator training is provided to ensure that local teams can run the plant safely and efficiently, supporting stable long-term operation after handover.
Delivered under an EPC model, this 150 t/d gold CIL plant in Mali included process design, equipment supply, civil works, and commissioning. The flowsheet featured screening, grinding, CIL cyanide leaching, and electrowinning, efficiently converting ore into gold.
A steel-structure platform layout allowed fast construction and smooth installation. After commissioning, the plant achieved stable operation, reliable gold recovery, and expected economic performance, showcasing how a complete EPC solution can deliver fast, efficient, and predictable results for West African gold projects.
At Xinhai Mining, we recognize that every ore deposit is unique, and every project requires a customized ore processing plan. There is no "standard answer" for gold mining projects in West Africa. In 2024, Xinhai Mining established a branch in Ghana, committed to strengthening our footprint in West Africa and providing clients with professional, advanced, and localized service delivery.If you are considering gold mining development in West Africa, please contact us for initial discussions and to obtain customized EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) solutions. Act now and contact Xinhai: WhatsApp: +8613811510145.
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