PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner West African Resources is looking at an enlarged development option for its Kiaka gold project, in Burkina Faso.
West African executive chairperson Richard Hyde told delegates on the first day of Paydirt’s Africa Downunder conference, in Perth, that the company was looking to push Kiaka’s nameplate capacity from the 7-million tonnes a year considered in the recently released feasibility study to 8.4-million tonnes a year.
“We've also got the opportunity to expand that further to over 10-million tonnes per annum through additional crushing or de-bottlenecking,” he said.
The recently released feasibility study estimated that the 7-million-tonne-a-year operation would require a capital investment of $430-million, to produce 233 000 oz/y of yearly gold production in the first five years of operations, and 219 000 oz/y over the project’s 18.5-year mine life.
The study estimated a pre-tax free cashflow of $2.4-billion and a post-tax net present value of $856-million and an internal rate of return of 21% at a gold price of $1 750/t.
West African acquired a 90% interest the Kiaka project from B2Gold in 2021 in $100-million deal. The project is 45 km from West Africa’s existing Sanbrado operation, which Hyde previously said could offer some synergies.
Hyde told delegates on Wednesday that early works at Kiaka were already under way, with major earthworks planned for 2023, while first gold was targeted for 2025.