Name of the Project
Sanbrado gold project.

Location
Burkina Faso.

Project Owner/s
Gold miner West African Resources.

Project Description
The optimised feasibility study envisages an initial ten-year mine life, including 6.5 years of underground mining, with strong early cash flow and a rapid payback of capital.

Four separate mineral resources have been estimated for the Sanbrado project comprising Mankarga 1 North, Mankarga 1 South, Mankarga 3 and Mankarga 5.

The current mineral resource is estimated at 39.4-million tonnes grading 1.9 g/t gold for 2.41-million ounces of gold in the indicated category, and 15.7-million tonnes grading 1.3 g/t gold for 680 000 oz of gold in the inferred category.

The project’s reserves have been updated to a probable ore reserve of 21.6-million tonnes grading 2.4 g/t gold.

The project comprises several openpits, all within 1 km to 2 km of the plant site, and an underground mine, accessed through a boxcut and a portal south-west of the M1 South openpit.

The processing plant comprises a conventional semiautogenous ball mill crusher milling circuit, as well as gravity and carbon-in-leach processing, with a nominal throughput capacity of 2.2-million tonnes a year.

Underground mining will be completed in Year 6 of gold production.

Openpit mining will continue until midway of Year 10 of production, with processing conducted for ten years.

Mining and processing of the high-grade M1 South probable ore reserve will be prioritised, generating significant early cash flow.

Sanbrado is expected to produce 301 000 oz in the first year of operations, with average yearly production expected to increase to 217 000 oz/y of gold over the first five years of the mine life, compared with 211 000 oz/y in the June 2018 feasibility study.

Production over the life-of-mine is estimated at 1.53-million ounces, compared with 1.46-million ounces in the June 2018 feasibility study.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The optimised feasibility study shows the project to have a pretax net present value, at a 5% discount rate, of $612-million (June 2018 feasibility study: $567-million) and an internal rate of return of 82.8%, with a payback of 14 months (June 2018 feasibility study: 16 months) following commissioning.

Capital Expenditure
Capital expenditure, including all openpit and underground preproduction mining and development costs, contingencies, duties and taxes, is estimated at $186-million (June 2018 feasibility study: $185-million).

Planned Start/End Date
First gold pour was poured in March 2020.

Latest Developments
West African Resources has set a production guidance of between 210 000 oz and 230 000 oz for the 2023 financial year, with the company expected to spend about $27-million to expand its Sanbrado operations.

Growth near Sanbrado will focus on getting MV3 ready for development, resource and reserve conversion drilling beneath the existing M1 South underground reserve, and exploring the underground potential beneath the M5 openpit reserve.

“Exploration drilling in 2023 will test targets with potential to provide high-grade oxide feed to Sanbrado. West African Resources is commencing a major growth phase. With the addition of Kiaka to existing operations, West African aims to be a more than 400 000 oz/y gold producer by 2025,” CEO Richard Hyde has said.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
West African Resources, tel +61 8 9481 7344 or email info@westafricanresources.com.