Modern Mining January 2022

SRK appoints Dominique Sambwa as DRC chair

High grade results continue at Yaouré Gold Mine Perseus Mining Limited (ASX/TSX: PRU) has reported continued exploration success at its Yaouré Gold Mine in Côte d’Ivoire. Recent results from Perseus’s ongoing infill and down-dip extension drilling on the CMA structure at Yaouré confirm strong potential for further mineral resources beneath the CMA open pit (CMA Underground prospect). Perseus will use results to upgrade the CMA Underground Inferred Mineral Resource estimate to Indicated status, enabling a Pre- Feasibility Study (PFS) for an underground mining operation to be completed by late June 2022, including an initial ore reserve estimate. Perseus’s MD and CEO Jeff Quartermaine says: “With our three gold mines, Yaouré, Edikan and Sissingué, now producing gold at an annualised rate of over 500 000 ounces per year, Perseus’s focus has turned to main- taining this level of production out to the end of the current decade and beyond. “Our latest infill and step out drilling results from below Yaouré’s CMA open pit confirm previous drill results that indicated that mate- rial quantities of additional Indicated Mineral Resources, capable of being economically mined using underground mining methods, may be delineated. “We are aiming to complete a Preliminary Feasibility Study of this mining operation by the end of the Q2 2022, however, timing of the completion of this work will depend on the ultimate footprint size of the orebody as deter- mined by the current drilling programme.” 

copper and cobalt mine Gécamines in 1998. His role expanded into plant production management, and then into process plant planning and establishment. After returning to the prospecting field in 2006, he entered consulting in 2008 as the founding manag- ing director of Onyx Consulting, before joining SRK Consulting in 2010. His work at SRK has included sev- eral greenfield and brownfield projects around the DRC, Guinea, Tanzania and Zambia. These have focused on vari- ous facets aimed at resource estimation, including exploration, quality assurance and quality control compliance, best prac- tice, data management, GIS and project management. Looking to the future, Sambwa says an important aspect of his role as chairman is to promote the application of global stan- dards in the field of geological reporting. “To build a firm foundation for the country’s mining sector, it is critical that exploration and mining data generated by mining operations is accurately reported in line with accepted standards,” he says. “SRK will also continue to nurture and men- tor local professionals, to help build internal capacity and growth.” Sambwa holds a BSc (Hons) in geol- ogy and mineralogy from the University of Lubumbashi, and is a member of the Ordre National des Géologues du Congo and the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. He speaks French, English, Swahili and Lingala. 

Exper ienced geological consul tant Dominique Sambwa has been appointed chairman of SRK Consulting Congo, based in Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Sambwa has 25 years of experience in the minerals sector of the DRC, having joined the SRK Lubumbashi office when it was established over a decade ago. The office now has 14 local professionals and support staff, and is an integral part of SRK’s global network of engineers and scientists in over 45 offices. Sambwa’s career began in field explo- ration, leading him to join state-owned Dominique Sambwa has been appointed chairman of SRK Consulting Congo.

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