PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Papillon Resources has been granted an environmental permit for its Fekola gold project, in Mali.
The company said on Thursday that the granting of the permit was a major milestone for the company, and followed a significant amount of work over the last 18 months, including baseline environmental and social studies, culminating in the submission of an environmental- and social-impact assessment (ESIA).
“The grant of the Fekola environmental permit is a significant milestone for Papillon and it will form an integral part of the company’s upcoming application for the Fekola mining permit,” said MD and CEO Mark Connelly.
“It was especially encouraging to see the positive reception from government stakeholders in Mali. The professionalism and diligence in their approach should be strongly commended, and is among the best I have seen in West Africa,” he added.
Papillon is currently undertaking a prefeasibility study (PFS) into the Fekola project, which would be completed during the June quarter.
The project was estimated to host a resource of some 54.97-million tons of ore, averaging 2.38 g/t gold. The mineral resource estimate included a measured and indicated resource of 44.31-million tons, representing some 83% of the entire resource.
The environmental permit, ESIA and the PFS would form the basis of the application for a mining permit.