The board of gold miner Centamin has approved the start of a prefeasibility study (PFS) at the miner’s Côte d'Ivoire-based Doropo project, as well as a further exploration programme at ABC, also in Côte d'Ivoire, and a review of the third-party development options at Batie West, in Burkina Faso.

Led by Centamin’s projects team, the review, which began in the second half of 2020, was designed to evaluate the potential development prospects of the portfolio, to rank each project and to define the pathway to realising value.

In a statement on May 27, the miner said that the Doropo project showed “strong development potential” with the completion of a positive preliminary economic assessment (PEA).

The PEA indicated that Doropo would have a $234-million post-tax net present value (NPV5%) with a 21% internal rate of return (IRR) at $1 450/oz gold price; or a $487-million NPV5% with a 33% IRR at consensus gold price of $1 829/oz.

The total development capital expenditure (capex) would be $275-million, including a 15% contingency, as well as a 13-year life-of-mine (LoM) based on the updated mineral resource estimate of 160 000 oz (measured and indicated) and just over 5.2-million ounces (inferred) of gold, with potential to further increase gold resources across the permits.

The average yearly gold production is expected to be 207 800 oz for the first five years, before decreasing to an average of 150 956 oz/y over the LoM, for a total of two-million ounces produced at an average all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of $904/oz.

Centamin’s board has approved $14-million spend to advance the project to PFS stage by mid-2022.

Meanwhile, the ABC project continues to deliver strong priority greenfield target generation along the 60 km Lolosso Gold Corridor (LGC) and the board has approved a further $3-million exploration programme for the Kona and FarakoNafana permits until June 2022. 

The PEA for the Batie West project also delivers positive results, including a $63-million NPV5% with an 11% IRR at $1 450/oz gold price; or a $282-million NPV5% and a 26% IRR at consensus gold price.

The total development capex for Batie West is expected to be about $265-million, including a 15% contingency and 8.5-year LoM based on the updated mineral resource estimate of just over 2.1-million ounces (measured and indicated) and 100 000 oz (inferred) of gold.

The average yearly gold production is expected to average 139 994 oz over the LoM, for total production of 1.2-million ounces of gold at an average AISC of $998/oz.

The Centamin board has approved the assessment of third-party development options as the project does not currently meet Centamin’s investment criteria.