The development of dual-listed gold miner Perseus Mining’s Sissingué gold mine, in Côte d’Ivoire, is on schedule and was 42% complete at the end of last month.

The project, which remains on track to produce its first gold in the March 2018 quarter, is also within budget, with Perseus having spent $12-million on development activities during the quarter ended March 31. This brought total expenditure to date, including the early works, to $55-million, Perseus CEO and MD Jeff Quartermaine commented during a conference call from London earlier this month.

The contractor’s construction team has progressed with the bulk concrete works associated with the plant, and installation of underground services is well under way at Sissingué. On-site work on the construction of the airstrip, tailings dam and mine camp also continued to progress in line with the project’s master schedule during the March quarter and was expected to be completed in the June quarter this year, Quartermaine said.

The forecast cost to complete Sissingué’s development remains $61-million. This will be funded from existing cash and a $40-million project debt facility provided by financial institution Macquarie Bank.

An updated life-of-mine (LoM) plan was also prepared for Sissingué, assuming ore reserves from each of the Sissingué, Bélé East and Bélé West mineral deposits would be processed through the Sissingué processing facility.

“The estimated gold production of 80 000 oz/y at an all-in site cost (AISC) of $624/oz is predicted for the first 3.25 years of operation, or [production is estimated to average] 70 000 oz/y at an AISC of $628/oz over the currently estimated five-year mine life,” Quartermaine said.

“It’s a smallish project, but it is a fairly economically robust project,” he added.

Perseus Mining has made a positive start to 2017, having produced 48 655 oz of gold at its Edikan gold mine, in Ghana, in the quarter ended March 31.

Production for the quarter was 51% higher than production in the December 2016 quarter. The Edikan mine, therefore, remained on track to achieve its production guidance of 90 000 oz to 110 000 oz for the six months to June 30, Quartermaine suggested.

Gold sales for the period totalled 55 532 oz at an average price of $1 266/oz, which were also “well above” the 22 431 oz sold at an average price of $1 115/oz in December.

“The March quarter . . . has certainly vindicated my optimism and, if anything, it has increased my confidence in Perseus’ future because not only did we get it back on track at our all-important Edikan operation but also, as promised, we have also ticked off
. . . key milestones that are very important in terms of laying the foundation for a very positive future for Perseus,” Quartermaine said.

Perseus was further “doing its best” to extend Edikan’s LoM beyond the current plan, Quartermaine said, adding that further exploration around the Edikan mine had been conducted and Perseus was awaiting the results.

Perseus will, in the June quarter, continue to implement improved grade control practices at Edikan, while investigating potential opportunities for improvements in grade estimation. It will also assess exploration targets and prepare drill programmes for targets identified by the recent review of geological datasets pertaining to the Edikan mining leases.

Quartermaine further noted that, during the quarter under review, work on preparation of the definitive feasibility study (DFS) for the Yaouré gold project, also in Côte d’Ivoire, was progressing slightly behind schedule, owing to delays in completing land access negotiations.

However, the resource drilling programme had progressed well and was 80% complete by quarter-end.

Work has started on resource modelling, metallurgical testwork and assessment of mining, processing and infrastructure options as part of Stage 2 of the DFS. This stage is due to be completed in the June quarter.

Completion of the DFS is scheduled for October. As part of this process, a new mineral resource will be published early in the September quarter.