Modern Mining September 2020

REGIONAL FOCUS: WEST AFRICA

buoyant – at above about US$1 100/oz for the past three years or so.” According to John Paul Hunt, senior exploration geologist, SRK Exploration, the Esaase deposit at Asanko gold mine in Ghana is “a great find of over a million ounces; it is near-surface and has not been exploited by artisanal miners or earlier workers. “Another early project in the Ivory Coast worth keeping an eye on is IronRidge Resources’ Zaranou project, which is in a heavily-worked artisanal district with a 50 km strike length.” The company’s director and principal consultant, Andrew van Zyl, says “the West African region is probably best described as solid rather than excep- tional, with a consistent number of projects being brought into operation. These have managed to deliver good, sustainable returns in fairly stable environments.” Quartermaine says Perseus Mining is a multi- mine, multi-jurisdictional gold mining company with two operating gold mines, Edikan in Ghana and Sissingué in Côte d’Ivoire, as well as a third, Yaouré, also located in Côte d’Ivoire and currently in the lat- ter stages of development.” He says first production from the company’s third mine is expected by the end of this year. “We also hold a portfolio of exploration tene- ments located in proximity to existing infrastructure and further afield, designed to provide a steady pipe- line of future projects.” Cora Gold CEO Bert Monro says his company’s flagship, the Sanankoro Gold Project in Southern Mali, has a maiden resource and a scoping study showing a 107% IRR at US$1 500 gold price. “We have a huge amount of exploration upside with a 1 – 2 Moz exploration target limited to 100 m depth. Our aim is to grow the resources and to con- duct a feasibility study on the project before the end of 2021.” He says the company has a suite of other

and strong cash flows. Forecast at US$1 600/oz, the Sabodala-Massawa complex is expected to produce 4,3 Moz over its life of mine.” She says African Gold Group’s Kobada Gold Project is an advanced-stage gold development project located approximately 125 km south-west of Mali’s capital, Bamako. Kobada is a near-surface gold project with a global resource base of over 2,3 Moz of gold. “Endeavour Mining’s acquisition of SEMAFO, which completed in July, sees Endeavour’s port- folio of West African assets expand to include the Boungou and Mana mines in Burkina Faso.” SRK Consulting’s Doku says Ghana has four key gold belts, three of which have been well-explored and exploited. “The fourth of these belts, the highly untapped Kibi-Winneba, has seen some exploration drilling in the last decade, with positive results that have raised considerable interest. There has been some element of unregulated mining in this area, but it is hoped that formal mine planning might soon be in the pipeline.” He says Nigeria is becoming “an interesting coun- try to watch” in terms of mining activity. “Until recently, that country was focused almost entirely on oil but has, over the past four years, begun to focus on the potential mining of gold and other minerals. There has been a consistent effort to identify exploration targets. In fact, artisanal miners have discovered deposits but there is a lack of capi- tal to develop larger formal operations. Government has now become more actively involved, bringing in consultants to conduct reconnaissance studies and other work to delineate targets that might attract sig- nificant investments.” There are similar developments in Guinea, where reconnaissance studies are also underway. “The enthusiasm is definitely supported by the fact that the gold price has remained steadily

Perseus Mining’s Edikan operation in Ghana.

32  MODERN MINING  September 2020