Name of the Project
Enchi gold project.
Location
Aowin district of Western Region, in south-west Ghana.
Project Owner/s
Newcore Gold.
Project Description
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) has shown Enchi to be an economically robust, low-capital intensity, heap-leach project.
The project has an inferred mineral resource of 70.4-million tonnes grading 0.62 g/t containing 1.4-million ounces of gold.
The updated PEA envisages an openpit, heap-leach operation with a low strip ratio, using contract mining and processing 6.6-million tonnes a year and producing 983 296 oz over the 11-year mine life.
Mining will occur in a series of ten openpits across the Sewum, Boin, Nyam and Kwakyekrom deposits, with depth ranging from 20 m to 180 m.
The heap-leach facility will be built in three phases, with excess capacity available.
Infrastructure for the project includes mine dry facilities, equipment, a maintenance workshop, refuelling facilities, an explosives magazine, office administration facilities, an assay laboratory and warehouse facilities.
Potential Job Creation
Not stated.
Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a 5% discount rate, of $333-million and an internal rate of return of 54% at a gold price of $1 650/oz, with a payback of 2.3 years.
Capital Expenditure
$97-million.
Planned Start/End Date
Construction is expected to take 15 months.
Latest Developments
Newcore announced in August 2021 that, on the back of the drilling success achieved at the Enchi gold project and the completion of an $11.5-million equity financing, the company had increased its 2020 to 2021 drill programme to 90 000 m.
Newcore also announced additional drill results, with drilling at the Boin gold deposit at Enchi intersecting 1 g/t of gold over 103 metres from 113 m, as well as an additional near-surface interval in the same hole of 0.63 g/t of gold over 40 m from 27 m.
Drilling at the Sewum gold deposit at Enchi has intersected 0.63 g/t of gold over 77 m from 4 m, including 0.72 g/t of gold over 36 m from 4 m in the oxides and 1.22 g/t of gold over 14 m from 53 m in the sulphides. These results continue to encounter wide zones of mineralisation near surface, expanding the mineralised area outside the existing pit constrained resource.
Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
BBA (PEA).
Contact Details for Project Information
Newcore Gold, tel + 1 604 484 4399 or email info@newcoregold.com.