The Edikan gold mine, in Ghana, is clawing back the production loss incurred, owing to the shutdown of its mill for preventive maintenance in June. The mine recorded its best month of gold production since December 2018 in July and surpassed its June quarter production by mid-August.

The mine, owned by African gold producer Perseus Mining, lost 19 days of production, or nearly 21% of uptime, during the June quarter as a result.

“[Edikan] is very well placed to achieve, if not exceed, guidance this quarter and in the December 2022 half,” said Perseus Mining CEO and MD Jeff Quartermaine when he addressed investor concerns during a conference call on the company’s financial year 2022 results in August.

Edikan also has the potential to, once again, become a very important component of the company’s diversified asset portfolio, owing to the Nkosuo deposit, which is located about 7 km from its mill.

“The recent delineation of this mineable deposit is a significant achievement for Perseus, as Nkosuo is our first discovery of what we believe is a mineralised zone that stretches across three continuous, separate exploration licences in the area to the north-west of Edikan,” said Quartermaine during a webinar that covered the company’s June quarter results.

Perseus also holds options to explore and acquire the other two licences and is committed to intensive exploration of this zone, with Nkosuo expected to be the first of several discoveries in the area.

The company has delineated indicated mineral resources at Nkosuo of about 422 000 oz of contained gold, as well as some additional inferred mineral resources. A feasibility study on the project also estimates a probable ore reserve grading about 1.04 g/t, which is consistent with the material that the company is processing and containing 332 000 oz of gold.

“Based on this study, processing of the Nkosuo ore reserves at the Edikan mill is expected to increase the life of the operation by [about] 18 to 24 months extending the mine life to the end of fiscal [year] 2027,” said Quartermaine during the webinar.

He explained that it would take between 18 and 24 months to convert the exploration licence to a mining lease and obtain the necessary environmental permit for Nkosuo, following which Perseus would be able to start mining and trucking to the Edikan mill for processing.

The life-of-mine of the company’s Yaouré gold mine, in Côte d’Ivoire, is also expected to be extended through the development of an underground operation.

The CMA deposit at Yaouré is “shaping up very well”, with Perseus announcing a maiden underground ore reserve of 2.2-million tonnes grading 3.59 g/t gold for 259 000 oz of gold in August.

Quartermaine stressed that these results related only to the first 200 m downdip, adding that the deep-drilling programme at CMA was in its infancy.

Yaouré continues to outperform all expectations, as has the Sissingue gold mine, said Quartermaine during the August conference call.