PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX- and TSX-listed gold miner Perseus Mining will undertake a definitive feasibility study (DFS) on the Bagoe gold project, in Cote d’Ivoire, after completing its acquisition of Exore Resources.

Perseus in June this year made a A$59.8-million takeover offer for fellow listed Exore, which held 2 000 km² of tenements in northern Cote d’Ivoire, near Perseus’ Sissingue gold mine, including 80% joint venture interest in exploration permits making up the Bagoe and Liberty projects.

The takeover transaction was concluded on September 25, with Perseus telling shareholders on Tuesday that the company’s immediate focus would be on a DFS at Bagoe, which is estimated to host an indicated mineral resource of some 90 000 oz of contained gold and an inferred mineral resource of 440 000 oz, to confirm the project’s technical and financial viability.

“With the completion of the Exore scheme of arrangement, Perseus is now very keen to move forward to prove the financial viability of a development concept for the Bagoe gold project, and if possible, increase the size of the mineable mineral resource,” said Perseus MD and CEO Jeff Quatermaine.

“Given the outstanding performance to date of the plant of our nearby Sissingue gold mine, we are very pleased to potentially have the opportunity to access what we believe will be a material source of additional mill feed within trucking distance of the Sissingue mill.”

Drilling at Bagoe is scheduled to start in the second week of October and will finish in late December, with the DFS targeted for completion in June next year.

Work will also be undertaken to prepare an environmental and social impact assessment for the project, with a field survey to start in the first week of October.

Early exploration work will also start in parallel with the DFS and environmental and social impact assessment, focusing on the prospective opportunities identified by Exore on the Bagoe tenement.

“Our exploration team, that includes a number of former employees of Exore, as well as our drilling contractors are mobilising to site and drilling is expected to be under way by mid-October 2020,” Quatermaine said.

“There is a good deal of work to be done in terms of exploration drilling, evaluation and licensing before the development of Bagoe becomes a proven concept, but we are very confident of achieving a positive outcome and as a result, placing Perseus in a position to continue to generate significant benefits for all of our stakeholders through our northern Ivorian operations.”