Modern Mining May 2018

MINING News

Sanbrado gold project heads for development

“We are on track to deliver an updated mineral resource estimate this quar- ter, as well as the results of the updated Feasibility Study incorporating open-pit and underground mining. The Feasibility Study will integrate the high-grade gold from M1 South into the mine plan, which is expected to deliver transformational changes to the annual production, cost profile and life of mine.” WAF announced in April that the Burkina Faso Ministry of the Environment, Green Economy and Climate Change had approved the updated Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) for Sanbrado. The updated ESIA reflects the change in process from heap leach to carbon- in-leach extraction and the addition of underground mining to the overall mine plan and is the penultimate stage of the permitting process with the updated min- ing licence expected in mid-2018. 

activities, in particular, commencing the underground decline into the high-grade M1 South deposit,” comments Richard Hyde, MD of West African Resources. “Accessing M1 South from the under- ground earlier will enable infill and extensional drilling to continue in a more targeted and cost-effective manner. “WAF is now well positioned to deliver an updated Feasibility Study incorporat- ing concurrent open-pit and underground mining this quarter and press on towards the development of the project later this year.” The funds generated by the place- ment will also support WAF’s on-going exploration programme. “We have a very substantial mineral endowment in the wider Sanbrado project area to explore, and, as such, we have an objective to drill at least 60 000 metres per annum to con- tinue building the mining inventory,” says Hyde. “This placement ensures we can maintain this pace of drilling.

West African Resources (WAF), listed on the ASX and TSX-V, reports it has received firm commitments to raise A$35 million through a placement of 109 375 million shares. The company owns the Sanbrado gold project in Burkina Faso. A Feasibility Study in 2017 indicated that Sanbrado could be developed as a 2 Mt/a open-pit/CIL project and produce at 150 koz per annum in its first three years and 93 koz per annum over an envisaged nine-year mine life. The study is currently being revised with the results expected shortly. WAF reports that share placement was heavily over-subscribed, and supported by existing shareholders, as well as sev- eral new large institutional investors from European, North American and Australian markets. “The demand for the placement is a strong endorsement of the quality of the Sanbrado gold project and our strat- egy to bring forward early development

May 2018  MODERN MINING  15