PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A value engineering assessment (VEA) and the front-end engineering and design (FEED) study for the Yaouré gold project, in Cote d’Ivoire, has confirmed the 2017 cost estimates, ASX- and TSX-listed Perseus Mining reported.

The 2017 definitive feasibility study (DFS) estimated that Yaouré would produce 215 000 oz/y over its first five years of operations, with life-of-mine average all-in site costs estimated at $759/oz.

The project was estimated to require a capital investment of $262.7-million, of which $252-million would be spent on the processing plant and infrastructure, and a further $11-million on mining pre-strip. 

Perseus on Thursday told shareholders that the FEED study had estimated the captial cost for developing Yaouré at $264-million, with first gold expected in December 2020.

“The completion of the FEED study is an important milestone on the path to delivering Yaouré, our third gold mine. The FEED study was completed on schedule and on budget, and has delivered a satisfactory outcome with the capital cost less than 0.5% greater than the cost originally estimated in the DFS,” said Perseus MD Jeff Quartermaine.

“With this estimate now in hand, we can confidently advance the implemention of our finance plan, which involves the deployment of a debt funding package to complement a combination of existing cash reserves and expected future cash flow from our two existing operations, both of which are performing in line with internal expectations and contributing to a steady build in our net cash reserves.”

The project would comprise two adjacent openpit operations, with ore also expected to be sourced from three pre-existing heap leach pads close to the run-of-mine pad.

The ore would be transported to an adjacent processing plant, with tailings from the plant to be stored in a single facility to the south of the process plant. The plant would process at a nominal rate of 3.3-million tonnes a year.