About 700 km southwest of Dar es Salaam, in the Songwe District in southwestern Tanzania, sits the New Luika Gold Mine, also known as “New Luika.” Among its contemporaries, New Luika is regarded as one of the safest open pit and underground gold mining operations.

Open Pit Operations: This type of mining is contractor-based, meaning that the customer provides technical direction and oversight, including mine design, planning, survey, and geology inputs, while the contractor supplies and operates the equipment.

Underground Operations: Mechanised longhole stopping with paste backfilling is the mining technique. Employees of New Luika (owner-run) handle all underground operations.

Processing: The process is straightforward and traditional in terms of metallurgy, utilising tried-and-true crushing and milling methods together with carbon-in-leach gold extraction that yields strong gold recoveries. There are two tailings storage facilities (TSF) at New Luika: TSF 2, which is presently in use, and TSF 1, which is not. In accordance with the New Luika Life of Mine production plan and industry best practices, TSF 2 was planned and engineered.

Three sources of electricity are used by the New Luika Gold Mine: an on-site solar farm, a Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) power station, and the national grid provided by TANESCO. Construction of a separate 33kV double-circuit distribution line from the Mwakibete Grid Substation, which is around 112 km away, began in Q1 2025 in order to improve reliability and lessen reliance on HFO. Since grid electricity is far less expensive than HFO, this infrastructure should result in considerable cost savings and environmental benefits once it is put into service. It should also improve power stability throughout the operation.

Water: A number of boreholes, the HIPO Dam, and the Jamhuri Pit provide New Luika with the water it needs.

By effectively turning inferred resources into mineral reserves, New Luika has built a solid operational record that continuously prolongs the mine’s life. Four further mining licenses were granted throughout the Lupa Gold Fields in late 2024, significantly fortifying the mine. These new licenses complement the ongoing extension of New Luika’s life-of-mine plan and offer further exploration possibilities.