Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU, TSX:PRU, OTC:PMNXF) has updated the life of mine plan for Yaouré, one of its three flagship West African gold assets, forecasting annual production of 260,000 ounces.
Yaouré, in Côte d’Ivoire, is now expected to produce 1.43 million ounces of gold over an eight-year life.
Perseus has a stated goal of producing half a million ounces of gold per year from Yaouré and its other two assets, Sissingué (also in Côte d’Ivoire) and Edikan (in Ghana).
Yaouré gets an update
Perseus has updated the measured and indicated resources at Yaouré, to 51.3 million ounces at 1.34 g/t gold, containing 2.21 million ounces of gold at a cut-off grade of 0.4g/t.
The inferred resources now stand at 47 million tonnes at 1.1 g/t gold and containing 1.7 million ounces at a cut-off of 0.4 g/t.
Yaouré’s ore reserves now total 29.6 million tonnes grading 1.71 g/t gold and containing 1.63 million ounces.
Over an estimated eight-year mine life - which has significant potential to be extended - Perseus expects to produce 1.43 million ounces with an annual average of 260,000 ounces over the 2022-24 financial years.
It expects average all-in site costs to sit at US$745 an ounce over the life of the mine, with a gold recovery rate of 90.4%.
And the current figures do not include mineralisation associated with the potential CMA Underground deposit that is the target of infill drilling.
How Yaouré fits into Perseus’ goal
As outlined previously by Perseus managing director and CEO Jeff Quartermaine, the company has a stated goal to produce 500,000 ounces of gold per year.
After a record June quarter, Quartermaine told investors the company was “very well on track” to achieving that goal.
Half-year gold production, encompassing all three of its assets, stood at 191,246 ounces and FY2021 gold production was 328,632 ounces, with both numbers exceeding the top end of their respective production guidance ranges.
Quarterly gold sales increased 23% to 106,899 ounces at an average realised gold price of US$1,652 per ounce, 1.5% more than the prior quarter.
“It has been an excellent year in terms of production with each of the mines performing very, very well,” Quartermaine told Proactive at the time.
“Things are going exceptionally well. It has been a journey but we are certainly delivering on our promise we have made.”
Edikan and Sissingué
Perseus also provided updated figures for the Edikan and Sissingué mines; Edikan has measured and indicated resources of 70.9 million tonnes at 1.04 g/t and Sissingué 7.8 million tonnes at 1.62 g/t.
Ore reserves stand at 36.4 million tonnes at 1.13 g/t gold at Edikan and 5.9 million tonnes at 1.72 g/t at Sissingué.
In the 2020 financial year, Perseus produced a total of 257,639 ounces of gold, all from the Edikan and Sissingué mines.
But Yaouré came on stream in December last year, five weeks ahead of schedule and under budget.
Its gold production ramped up rapidly over the ensuing quarters, contributing 37,343 ounces in the June quarter, exceeding Sissingué.
With gold production from Yaouré alone forecast to be 260,000 ounces in the 2022 financial year - and assuming Edikan (161,835 ounces) and Sissingué (104,672 ounces) maintain steady outputs - Perseus is well on track to comfortable exceed its half-a-million-ounce goal.
- Daniel Paproth