PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed gold miner Persues Mining has extended the mine life at its Yaouré operation, in Côte d’Ivoire, by 12 years to 2035.

The ASX- and TSX-listed miner on Monday updated the ore reserve at Yaouré, which now stands at 37.2-million tonnes of ore, grading 1.73 g/t gold for 2.07-million ounces of gold from both openpit and underground sources.

The measured and indicated resource is estimated at 54.7-million tonnes, grading 1.59 g/t gold for 2.8-million ounces, with the inferred resource estimated at 11.3-million tonnes, grading 1.9 g/t gold for 0.7-million ounces of gold.

The revised life-of-mine plan for Yaouré is now targeting production of 210 000 oz/y between 2024 and 2029, and 110 000 oz/y between 2030 and 2035. Average all-in site costs between 2024 and 2029 are estimated at $1 104/oz, and at $1 134/oz between 2030 and 2035.

Development capital for the CMP openpit and the underground mining operation is expected to reach $126.34-million between 2024 and 2029, and $5.3-million between 2030 and 2035.

“Our increase to the life of Yaouré gold mine to 12+ years announced today ensures Yaouré will continue to be an important part of Perseus’ geopolitically diverse asset portfolio for many years to come and will enable us to continue delivering on our corporate mission of generating material benefits for all of our stakeholders, including our host governments and communities,” said Perseus MD and CEO Jeff Quartermaine.

“When Perseus acquired Yaouré as a development project in 2016, the possibility of extending the life of the mine through development of an underground operation was not part of the plan. However, our discovery, and subsequent engineering and planning, that has led to today’s announcement, bears testament to Perseus’ in-house ability to create significant value through organic growth.

“An underground mine planned for Yaouré will be Perseus’ first foray into underground mining, with all previous operations having been opencut operations. While the underground mine represents a new style of mining and a new challenge for us as a company, it is certainly not new to many of our technical team members, who are very keen to demonstrate their skills in an underground mining setting.

“With the prospect of further extending the mine life through further exploration success, we expect that the Yaouré mine will live up to its reputation as one of the leading mines in Côte d’Ivoire, if not in all of West Africa,” Quartermaine said.