Name of the Project
Afema gold project.

Location
Aboisso department of the Sud-Comoé region, in south-east Côte d'Ivoire.

Project Owner/s
Afema Gold, through its subsidiary Turaco Gold (80%), and unrelated third party Sodim, with a 20% interest, subject to the State of Côte d'Ivoire's entitlement under the current Mining Code, which provides the State with a 10% noncontributing equity interest.

Project Description
A prefeasibility study (PFS) has outlined a conventional openpit, drill, blast, load and haul operation producing gold doré.

The mine plan covers the Woulo Woulo, Herman, Jonction, Anuiri, Asupiri and Begnopan deposits.

The project’s mineral resource estimate totals 116.7-million tonnes grading 1.2 g/t gold for 4.65-million ounces. This includes an openpit-constrained resource of 4.45-million ounces and a 200 000 oz underground resource at Jonction, which is not included in the PFS mine plan.

The maiden probable ore reserve is 55.1-million tonnes grading 1.1 g/t gold for 1.912-million ounces at Woulo Woulo, Jonction, Anuiri and Asupiri, based on a $2 000/oz gold price. Begnopan is included in the life-of-mine (LoM) schedule, but not in the reserve pending further infill drilling, while Herman is also excluded from the reserve.

The processing plant will have a nominal fresh-ore throughput of six-million tonnes a year. It will comprise a four-million-tonne-a-year cyanide leach/carbon-in-leach circuit for free-milling material and a two-million-tonne-a-year flotation, ultrafine-grind, atmospheric-oxidation and cyanide-leach circuit for sulphide material.

The PFS envisages processing 65.1-million tonnes grading 1.1 g/t gold over a 10.3-year mine life, containing about 2.3-million ounces of gold. Average metallurgical recovery is estimated at about 87%, yielding total recovered production of 2.02-million ounces. Production is forecast at about 196 000 oz/y over the LoM.

Associated infrastructure includes a tailings storage facility, connection to the national electricity grid, water collection from surface runoff, pit dewatering and groundwater bores, a water-storage dam, upgraded access and haulage roads, an accommodation village, offices and other buildings.

All resource deposits remain open along strike and at depth, and the current mine plan excludes the Toilesso resource, mineralisation at Niamienlessa and Baffia, underground development and numerous exploration targets.

Turaco is continuing exploration and resource-growth drilling using three to five rigs, and reported A$60-million in cash at March 31, 2026, sufficient to fund the definitive study and ongoing drilling programmes.

Potential Job Creation
Turaco expects the project to create significant local employment and procurement opportunities.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
At a gold price of $3 000/oz, the PFS estimates an after-tax net present value (NPV), at a 5% discount rate, of $1.486-billion, an internal rate of return (IRR) of 60% a year and a payback period of 17 months. At a gold price of $3 500/oz, the project has an estimated NPV of $2.102-billion and IRR of 79%, with a payback of just over two-and-a-half years. At $4 000/oz, the project has an NPV of $2.717-billion and in IRR of 97%, with a payback of a year and ten months.

Capital Expenditure
The total development capital cost is estimated at $410-million, including mining-contractor establishment and a $24-million contingency.

Planned Start/End Date
Turaco is targeting the completion of a definitive feasibility study in the second quarter of 2027 and plans to start early works in time to achieve first gold production in 2029. Mining is planned to start six months before processing to build the run-of-mine stockpile.

Latest Developments
The project has directly advanced into a definitive feasibility, detailed-design and engineering work. A reverse-circulation infill programme at Begnopan of about 7 000 m, intended to support a reserve estimate for that deposit, was expected to be completed in July 2026.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Turaco (PFS and mine optimisation, design, scheduling, costing and financial analysis); International Resource Solutions (mineral resource estimates); Interquip, formerly MACA Interquip Mintrex (process design and estimated process operating and capital costs); Knight Piésold (tailings storage facility and surface-water management and, with Turaco, the camp, access and haulage roads); Digby Wells (hydrology and hydrogeology work); Earth Systems (environmental work); ECG Engineering (power-supply study); Peter O'Bryan & Associates (geotechnical work); and Bureau Veritas Minerals (metallurgical testwork).

Contact Details for Project Information
Turaco Gold, tel +61 8 9480 0402 or email info@turacogold.com.au.