Modern Mining September 2019

GOLD

Bomboré project to benefit from staged development

by four months of commissioning and ramp-up to commercial production. Construction of the Phase II Sulphide Expansion will start in 2023 with the intro- duction of sulphide feed in Q1-2024. “The staged development approach at Bomboré results in increased annual gold production, improves operating margins and significantly enhances eco- nomics including a material increase in after-tax NPV of US$137,5 million,” comments Patrick Downey, President and CEO of Orezone. “The results of the 2019 FS confirm that Bomboré is a long-life, low-cost gold mine and we continue to evaluate additional project opportunities. Equally important, the decision to complete the Phase II Sulphide Expansion after the start-up of oxide operations allows the company to fund construction of the sulphide circuit without the need for additional upfront capital.” The 2019 FS estimates an after-tax NPV 5% of US$361,0 million and an IRR of 43,8 % with a 2,5 year payback. The projected mine life is +13 years with Life of Mine (LOM) gold production of 1,6 Moz. Initial project construction cost are estimated at US$153,0 million. The project will have a LOM All-in Sustaining Cost (AISC) of US$730/oz (US$672/oz in the first ten years).

Orezone Resources, listed on the TSX-V, has released an updated Feasibility Study (2019 FS) on its Bomboré gold project in Burkina Faso which details a robust open-pit mine with an annual gold production of 133,8 koz at a cash cost of US$681/oz in its first ten years of operation. The new study has dramatically improved the economics of the project by incorporating a staged Phase II sulphide expansion.

T he 2019 FS envisages production from the sulphide expansion starting in year 3 of oxide operations. Funded from oxide cashflow, the expansion significantly improves the overall gold production profile and project economics by processing 17,6 Mt of higher-grade sulphide and lower-grade transition (LT) ore. Furthermore, the addition of these facilitates an increase in plant throughput from the 4,5 Mt/a envisaged in the 2018 Feasibility Study (2018 FS) to 5,2 Mt/a in the 2019 FS. Under present plans, the Phase I oxide operation is scheduled to commence commercial production in 2021 after a 23-month construction period followed

Orezone’s President and CEO, Patrick Downey, with Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) contractors.

The project, which consists of a block of contiguous permits extend- ing over an area of approximately 15 000 ha, is located 85 km east of Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, and is easily accessed from the paved N4 national highway. Orezone has recently upgraded the 5 km unsealed road from the N4 to the accom- modation camp at the north of the property to allow all-weather access. Bomboré’s near – within 15 km – neighbours include the Sanbrado mine of West African Resources (cur- rently under construction and due to pour its first gold next year) and the Toega deposit of B2Gold Corp. The Bomboré property – which covers part of a north-west/south-west trending greenstone belt – was first explored in 1989 and subsequently passed through several pairs of hands before Orezone acquired it in 2003. Since then, Orezone has carried out systematic mapping, prospect- ing, sampling and gold assaying of

34  MODERN MINING  September 2019