West African Resources Ltd (ASX:WAF) has intersected extensive visible gold in the deepest hole to date at the Sanbrado Gold Project in the West African country of Burkina Faso.
25 metres at 15.05 g/t gold was intersected from 862 metres depth including 5.5 metres at 40.42 g/t gold.
Notably, this new intersection is located 220 metres beneath the existing Ore Reserves and adds potential to extend the M1 South underground mine life to 7.5 years.
These latest results follow other high-grade results from step-down and infill drilling at M1 South.
Drilling success demonstrates extension potential
WAF’s managing director Richard Hyde said: “The 1 kilometre step-out hole beneath M1 South Mineral Reserves has intercepted 25 metres grading 15.03 g/t gold including 5.5 metres at 40.42 g/t gold.
“Success in our deepest hole to date demonstrates potential to extend the M1 South underground mine life and increase annual production in years 4 to 8.
“The company remains on track to finalise a debt funding package for the development of Sanbrado by the end of Q4 2018, and will complete an optimised feasibility study incorporating resource and reserve updates and increased plant throughput, which will deliver higher annual gold production, by the end of Q1 2019.”
Recently updated feasibility study values gold mine at $540 million
Earlier this year, WAF released an updated feasibility study for Sanbrado ascribing the 11-year gold mining operation with a post-tax net present valuation (NPV) of $540 million.
READ: West African Resources confirms Sanbrado as a robust gold project
Thanks to more recent drilling success, the company will deliver a further feasibility study update by the end of March 2019 quarter.
The update will incorporate updated resources and reserves, and an improved mine schedule based on higher plant throughput.
Notably, a significant improvement in project economics is expected by delivering more gold in the early years of the operation from an accelerated mine schedule with a relatively small change in the overall project capital requirements.