Modern Mining January 2020

AngloGold and IAMGOLD to exit from Sadiola

AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) and its joint ven- ture partner, IAMGOLD Corporation (IMG), have agreed to sell their interests in Société d’Exploitation des Mines d’Or de Sadiola SA (SEMOS) to Allied Gold Corp. SEMOS’ prin- cipal asset is the Sadiola mine located in the Kayes region of Western Mali. AGA and IMG each hold a 41 % interest in SEMOS with the remaining 18 % interest held by the Government of Mali. In terms of the agreement, AGA and IMG will sell their collective interests in SEMOS to Allied Gold for a cash consideration of US$105 million, payable as follows:  US$50 million (US$25 million each to AGA and IMG) upon the fulfilment or waiver of all conditions precedent and closing of the transaction;  up to a further US$5 million (US$2,5 mil- lion each to AGA and IMG), payable eight days after closing, to the extent that the cash balance of SEMOS at closing is greater than an agreed amount;  US$25 million (US$12,5 million each to AGA and IMG) upon the production of the first 250 000 ounces from the Sadiola Sulphides Project (SSP); and  US$25 million (US$12,5 million each to AGA and IMG) upon the production of a further 250 000 ounces from the SSP. Commenting on the deal, Kelvin Dush­ nisky, CEO of AGA, said “This transaction is in line with our disciplined capital allocation strategy as we move to streamline our port- folio and intensify our focus on assets that have potential to build critical mass in the long term. I’m pleased we have reached an agreement with Allied Gold, which has plans to secure the long-term future of Sadiola.” The Sadiola mine is situated in south- western Mali, 77 km south-south-west of the regional capital Kayes. On-site surface infrastructure includes a 4,9 Mt/a CIL gold plant, where the ore is eluted and smelted. Sadiola commenced production in 1996. As at 31 December 2018, it had mineral resources (100 % basis) of 7,9 million ounces (135,4 Mt at 1,81 g/t) and ore reserves (100 % basis) of 4,0 million ounces (63,8 Mt at 1,94 g/t) that com- prised oxide stockpiles, as well as sulphide stockpiles and yet to be mined ore that make up the mineral resources and ore reserves for the SSP. For the nine months ended 30 September 2019, the production from Sadiola attribut- able to AGA was 39 000 ounces at an All in Sustaining Cost of US$954 per ounce. 

KKME has appointed consultants Well­ fields Consulting Services in Gaborone, Botswana to complete a pre-drilling Environmental Management Plan (EMP). Fieldwork in respect of this EMP has now been completed and KKME awaits receipt of the EMP report. KKME has implemented gravity sur- veys over the five drill targets to eliminate, as far as possible, any chance that the targets are graphite rather than sulphide bodies, since the former, although con- ductive, would not be of interest. This is considered unlikely given the geological setting. The final gravity survey report is awaited. Further liaison with drilling contrac- tors is underway, some of whom have expressed a willingness to consider equity in lieu of cash for a portion of their drilling costs in respect of the initial programme. 

licences covering an area of 2 725 km 2 that are considered prospective for nickel-copper-PGM mineralisation . A helicopter-borne electro-magnetic (EM) survey over the Molopo Farms Feeder Zone project area completed in Q2-2019 identified 17 sub-surface con- ductor targets and follow up ground EM surveys over 14 of the targets produced at least six high priority targets of consid- erable size and scale for which eight drill holes have been designed to penetrate all targets. The targets are highly conductive bodies which could potentially be host to massive nickel sulphides due to the spa- tial location, particular geological setting and associated magnetic response. Further work has been undertaken to select the top priority targets and five were selected as a focus for the initial drilling programme.

January 2020  MODERN MINING  5