Heavily impacted by the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, West Africa’s gold sector is strongly bouncing back, especially in Côte d’Ivoire. A string of new discoveries and developments are set to potentially move the nation into the top three of West African gold producers.
According to the Chamber of Mines of Côte d’Ivoire, despite competition from several other West African countries looking to attract investment in their own mineral resources, an improved regulatory framework is helping to put Côte d’Ivoire firmly on the radar of international mining companies. That feeling is backed up by experienced Australian mining executive Peter Youd, executive chairman of newly listed Côte d’Ivoire explorer Haranga Resources (ASX: HAR).
Haring recently completed a very successful IPO which raised A$6.5M to pursue the significant potential of the Issia gold project in Côte d’Ivoire and a uranium development in Senegal. The Issia project features existing extensive geochemical gold anomalies to 853ppb Au, which Haranga Resources intends validating to confirm the continuity of geochemical anomalies for drill testing. The company is targeting commencement of a RAB drilling programme at Issia in early 2022.
While there has been no previous exploration drilling on the Issia Project area, there is evidence of artisanal gold workings, and the project is only 50km down strike from Tietto Minerals’ exciting 3.35Moz Abuja gold project.
Mr Youd recently said that Cote d’Ivoire is recognized as a largely underexplored and underdeveloped gold province with more of the highly gold-endowed Birimian greenstone belts than other West African countries. However, he added, that it is not only the rich geology that makes Côte d’Ivoire so attractive to a growing number of gold explorers from Canada and Australia.
“The infrastructure is good and getting better. SGS is building a new facility not far from where from where we are. So that will mean that we’ll be able to have new lab samples processed at their new facility.
“The roads are good, there is good power, a good workforce, and the government and local people are supportive, so it is a good place to work.
“Importantly, we have an association with IDC drilling, a reputable Senegalese company operating across all those West African countries. So, there is a whole raft of things that make it a good, good place to be.”
Haranga’s current work schedule at Issia includes a review of geochemistry and the assay database.
“We’re going to get interpretation of the results from the core drilling programme that we undertook late last year, and then follow up with another drilling programme early this year.” The company is also preparing to undertake a large airborne geophysics survey this quarter.
Tietto’s big plans
Just up the road, West African specialist Tietto Minerals (ASX: TIE) continues to build on its world class Abujar Gold Project, which is on target for first gold in Q4 CY22. Tietto Managing Director, Dr Caigen Wang, says that with the recently completed settlement of the second tranche of its capital raise, the company is now fully funded to production at Abujar.
“Abujar, which has the potential to be one of the largest gold producing mines in Côte d’Ivoire, is expected to produce more than 260Koz of gold in the first year and 1.2Moz of gold in the first six years.”
Abujar’s potential was boosted even further recently when Tietto reported that it had obtained the project’s best bonanza high-grade gold results from infill drilling.
“This fantastic intercept of 1.1m at 2,853g/t gold from our infill drilling programme at AG is our best achievement to date,” Dr Wang said.
“This bonanza gold intercept is located close to surface in fresh mineralization and combined with the multiple high-grade intercepts we have reported from our infill drilling, it is expected these will have a material impact on the first years of open pit mining at Abujar.
“Our exploration team is using these latest results to refine our drill targeting of the high-grade shoots within the Abujar main shear. Results from our drilling continue to demonstrate high grades present in this large system and with more than 70km of strike at Abujar and achieving 100,000m of drilling a year; we think there is great potential to deliver more intersections like these.
“We are well positioned to execute our dual strategy in 2022; our exploration team has recently commenced drilling 100,000m of diamond core this year to drive resource growth, and our build team is advancing construction work on schedule as we develop the Abujar Gold Project into West Africa’s next gold mine.”
Perseus on the march
One of West Africa’s most experienced operators, Perseus Mining (ASX: PRU) continues to ramp its two major Côte d’Ivoire gold mines.
During the last quarter, Perseus’s newest mine, Yaouré, increased its gold production by a further 16% compared to the prior quarter to 75,189oz of gold at a production cost of US$589 per oz and an AISC of US$700 per oz.
This performance contributed to half yearly gold production at Yaouré of 139,747oz of gold, produced at an average AISC of US$687 per oz which compared favourably to market guidance for the half year of 130,000 to 140,000oz of gold produced at an AISC of US$675 to US$775 per oz.
The improving operating performance at Yaouré was a result of strong operating fundamentals compared to the prior quarter, including mill throughput rates (487 tph compared to 449 tph), gold recovery rates (93.6% compared to 92.7%) and importantly, the head grade of processed ore (2.64 g/t to 2.37 g/t).
Abujar, has the potential to be one of the largest gold producing mines in Côte d’Ivoire
Meanwhile, Perseus’ Sissingué Gold Mine produced 18,065oz of gold during the quarter at a production cost of US$817 per oz and an AISC of US$905 per oz. Notional cashflow generated from the Sissingué operation totalled US$13.2M for the quarter, US$2.1M more than in the prior quarter, due to a combination of improved production, costs, and average gold sale prices.
This performance contributed to half yearly gold production at Sissingué of 34,132 oz of gold, produced at an average AISC of US$917 per oz. This materially exceeded market guidance for the half year of 25,000 to 30,000oz of gold produced at an AISC of US$950 to US$1,070 per oz.
The overall result for the quarter at Sissingué, was also better than forecast by Perseus with each of the key operating parameters including runtime (95%), throughput rate (178 tph), and recovery (90%) improving relative to the prior quarter. Average head grade (1.67g/t) was down relative to the prior quarter in line with company expectations.
With gold prices continuing to remain at strong levels, a new surge in exploration and production activities, Côte d’Ivoire is proving to a popular destination for mining companies and investors.
