ASX- and TSX-listed West African gold producer Perseus Mining announced that an updated National Instrument 43-101-compliant technical report has been prepared and filed with Canadian regulatory authorities following the recent release of its feasibility study for the development of the Sissingué gold mine, in Côte d’Ivoire.

Since the release of the results of the Sissingué feasibility study in April this year, Perseus has moved forward on several fronts in preparation for the start of development of the mine.

Experienced project director Adam Smits has been recruited to manage all aspects of the development of Sissingué. In addition to being responsible for construction of the mine, plant and associated infrastructure, Smits will also oversee the development of the operating organisation and associated infrastructure as well as Perseus’s social licence to operate in Côte d’Ivoire. Successful implementation of each of these three elements of the project is considered an essential prerequisite for the potential success of the project.

Smits, who is a mechanical engineer by profession, led the successful development of vertically integrated zircon and titanium business TiZir’s $650-million Grand Côte mineral sands project and played a pivotal role in ASX-listed miner Mineral Deposits Limited’s (MDL’s) $330-million Sabodala gold mine, now owned by Canadian gold producer Teranga Gold. Both Grand Côte and Sabodala are located in Senegal, which has an operating environment very similar to that of Côte d’Ivoire.

Prior to joining MDL, Smits served as a senior engineer for Australian engineering and project management firm Lycopodium, which prepared the Sissingué feasibility study for Perseus, and spent several years in a range of operating roles with Placer Dome Asia Pacific.

Discussions with Ivorian officials on the terms of the mining convention for Sissingué have been progressed to an advanced stage and execution of the document is expected in the near term.

To facilitate financing of the Sissingué development, a package containing an information memorandum, financial model and draft term sheet will shortly be distributed to prospective lenders. Financial close of a debt financing facility is currently scheduled for the end of the September 2015 quarter.

Perseus MD Jeff Quartermaine comments: “The release of the updated technical report for the development of our Sissingué gold mine is another milestone that has been achieved along the path towards producing gold from our second operating mine.

“Since the release of the Sissingué feasibility study in April, the project has gathered momentum and we are currently on schedule to satisfy each of the prerequisites for commencing development prescribed by our board of directors and getting under way with development on schedule in the December quarter of this year.”

Meanwhile, Perseus announced in May that the Ghanaian Environ- mental Protection Agency had approved the company’s supplementary environmental-impact statement for its Edikan gold mine, in Ghana. The approval allows Perseus to extend its mining operations to include mining of the Fetish, Bokitsi, Chirawewa – collectively known as the Eastern Pits – and Esuajah North gold deposits.

Perseus has been mining and producing approximately 200 000 oz of gold a year from the Abnabna and Fobinso openpits on the western side of its mining lease since operations commenced at Edikan in late 2011. Clearing work and preliminary waste stripping activities in the Eastern Pits area will now commence and significant quantities of ore will start to be mined in the September quarter of this year.

Community members whose farms and dwellings will be impacted on by mining activities in the Eastern Pits area have been fully compensated and relocated to rented accommodation while alter- native houses are constructed. Planning of the relocation dwellings has been completed and construction works, which had been delayed pending the receipt of mining approvals, can now commence as previously planned.

Quartermaine concludes: “We are very pleased to have received the necessary environmental approvals needed to commence activities in the Eastern Pits area of our mining lease at Edikan and our site team is now looking forward to working with our contractors to ensure that we can deliver the outcomes forecast in our recently updated life-of-mine plan.

“Having also recently implemented measures to ensure continuous access to power at the Edikan gold mine, we are now experiencing excellent operational performance at the mine and are confident that we will comfortably achieve the previously published production and cost guidance for the 2015 financial year.”