NMC's 690 square km mining concession is located between the towns of Sangaredi and Boké in the northwest of the country. Bauxite deposits are on or near the surface.
The area to be developed by 2040 contains nearly 400 million tons of bauxite mineral resources. The mine operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Two technologies are used:
The use of the Surface-Miners for the extraction and deposit of the Bauxite, which is then taken back to the loader to be transported by truck to the Ore Station.
The use of blasting: Drillers dig blast holes 140 mm wide according to a predetermined plan. These blast holes are then filled with explosives that are then detonated to burst the rock.
The ore is then loaded onto trucks using excavators. Then, truck drivers will empty their dumpsters into a crusher, which grinds the bauxite into pieces of 100 millimetres or less to facilitate transport and handling.
The crushed bauxite is then conveyed on a conveyor at a rate of 2,500 tonnes per hour to a rail stacker, which unloads the ore into one of two stockpiles (each with a capacity of 165,000 tonnes), built parallel to the track for loading into train cars.