Obuasi’s fourth Gekko ILR in 2027: recovery and circuit impacts for metallurgists
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
AngloGold Ashanti’s Obuasi gold mine in Ghana will commission a fourth Gekko InLine Leach Reactor (ILR) in 2027, expanding a circuit that already runs three ILRs alongside a BIOX® refractory ore treatment plant. The decision extends more than two decades of site experience with ILR technology, originally adopted at Obuasi in its early commercial rollout. Additional ILR capacity should increase gravity gold recovery from concentrates, reduce lock-up in the BIOX® circuit and give metallurgists more flexibility in treating variable high-sulphide ore.
Technical Brief
- Obuasi’s early adoption of ILR technology has effectively served as a large-scale proving ground for Gekko designs.
Our Take
AngloGold Ashanti’s decision to further upgrade the Obuasi processing plant in Ghana comes as the company is simultaneously deploying capital into external gold growth options, such as its 2026 investment in Thesis Gold & Silver, signalling a dual track of brownfield optimisation and greenfield exposure.
Within our 1252 Mining stories, AngloGold Ashanti appears frequently in connection with African assets like Iduapriem in Ghana, and the Obuasi BIOX® circuit work reinforces that the group is still prepared to invest in technically complex, refractory-ore processing rather than pivoting solely to simpler orebodies.
The focus on gold-processing technology at Obuasi aligns with a period where gold prices in our coverage have reached record territory, which typically strengthens the business case for capital-intensive plant upgrades that target higher recovery from existing ore streams rather than pure tonnage growth.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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