The Ghanaian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted Aim-listed GoldStone Resources an environmental permit for its Homase South Pit within the Akrokeri-Homase (AKHM) project in south-western Ghana.
The environmental permit is a key permit required to allow the company to proceed towards construction of the project.
The company notes that this is a major achievement in the development of the AKHM project.
With the environmental permit now granted, the board expects mining and construction operations at the project to begin imminently, with the first gold pour expected within two months.
The environmental permit, along with the ten-year mining lease which received Parliamentary Ratification on December 22, 2020, is a prerequisite for procedural operational permits which are expected to be granted on a timely basis.
GoldStone will also now make an application to the EPA for the environmental permit to be expanded to also cover the whole of the company's expanded mining lease in respect of AKHM, including the Homase North and Homase Central pits.
"We have been eagerly awaiting receipt of this permit so that we can start construction and mining. The permitting process has taken approximately six months longer than what we initially anticipated, but we are delighted to now be in a position to commence the next stage of operations at the AKHM project,’” says CEO Emma Priestley.