PERTH (miningweekly.com) - A feasibility study into the Namindi gold project, in Ghana, has estimated that the project could produce 4.2-million ounces of gold over a 15-year mine life, with around 1.1-million ounces to be produced in the first three years of full production.

ASX- and TSX-listed Cardinal Resources on Monday said that the feasibility study was based on a 5.1-million-ounce ore reserve.

The 9.5-million-tonne-a-year gold project is expected to require a capital investment of $390-million and would have an all-in sustaining cost of $895/oz over the life-of-mine, generating $1.46-billion in undiscounted, pre-tax free cash flow over the mine life.

The feasibility study estimated that the project would have a pre-tax net present value of $914-million and an internal rate of return of 43%, with first gold currently targeted for the second half of 2022.

“With over one-million ounces slated for production in the first three years, 421 000 oz in the first year alone, and an average annual gold production of 287 000 oz over a 15-year mine life, Namindi ranks amongst the world’s largest known, financially robust, undeveloped gold projects,” said Cardinal MD and CEO Archie Koimtsidis.

“Since the discovery of Namindi in 2015, we have continued to be focused on de-risking the project and have reached a robust capital project expenditure accuracy level of +/- 15% for this feasibility study. Unlike whole of ore gold processing plants, we have the benefit of being able to produce a concentrate for gold extraction on site, which means we have a much smaller back half of the plant, providing a huge positive impact on capital costs.

“Economics and technical optimisation confirms a large, single openpit using a conventional process plant with a throughput of 9.5-million tonnes a year and a very attractive 24-month debt payback.”

The Cardinal board has now approved the feasibility study, and has unveiled plans to further de-risk the project by starting front-end engineering design programme and further enhance the project execution plant.

Early site-work and the advancement of engineering towards construction will be funded through existing cash, Cardinal said.