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Prestea gold mine project, Ghana

5th December 2014

By: Sheila Barradas

Creamer Media Research Coordinator & Senior Deputy Editor

  

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Name and Location
Prestea gold mine project, Ghana.

Client
The mine was acquired by Golden Star in 2002 and placed on care and maintenance while evaluation and exploration activities continued.

Project Description
Prestea is an underground gold mine, which has been in existence for more than a century and has produced an estimated nine-million ounces of gold to date. It has an extensive infrastructure of surface and underground vertical shafts, inclined shafts, horizontal development, raises and stopes developed along the 9 km of strike length of the gold mineralisation.

A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) completed on Prestea has demonstrated positive economics for the extraction of the West reef using shrinkage stoping, which was the mining method historically used at Prestea.

The West reef mineralisation is located about 2 km south of the Central shaft and 2 km north of the Bondaye shaft at a depth of between 570 m and 950 m below surface. The Central shaft will be used for personnel access, materials transport, dewatering and hoisting. The Bondaye shaft will be used as the secondary means of egress and for dewatering.

The main haulage level will be established on the existing 24 level to move mineralised and waste rock to the Central shaft for hoisting to surface. An incline/decline system will be developed in the footwall of the mineralisation to access sublevels at a vertical spacing of about 40 m between existing levels 17 and 24.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The PEA indicates an internal rate of return of 72%, a net present value at a 5% discount rate of $121-million and a payback period of 2.5 years from the start of development.

Value
Total capex is estimated at $94-million.

This forms the bulk of the initial capex and will be directed towards infrastructure rehabilitation, which includes shaft and hoist upgrades, electrical infrastructure, process plant upgrade, ventilation, compressed air and pumping.

The refurbishment and development overhead capital relates to labour, power, consumables and refurbishment costs for items not directly related to the West reef project during the predevelopment and production ramp-up phase.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Golden Star is in discussions with several providers of capital to secure the funding necessary to develop Prestea. With the short payback period for the project identified, funding will ideally be raised at project level. Consideration will be given to the cost of capital and the ability to repay this capital with no, or limited, penalties.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Golden Star Resources, tel +1 233 302 779 040, fax +1 233 302 779 041 or email siteoperations@gsr.com.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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