West African Resources’ Sanbrado Gold Operations are located ~90km east-southeast of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. The company has a 90% interest in Sanbrado, with the Government of Burkina Faso holding a 10% interest (free carried).

WAF poured first gold at the project in March 2020, six months ahead schedule and US$20m under budget.

A site layout of the project is shown below:At November 2024, the company had achieved 14 consecutive quarters of meeting or beating guidance. 2024 guidance is set at 190 – 210 Koz at AISC of <US$1,300/oz.

Sanbrado has Resources of 83 Mt at 1.83 g/t for 4.9 Moz gold and Reserves of 19.8 Mt at 2.4 g/t for 1.5 Moz gold. The project’s 10-year production target is set to average more than 210,000 oz per year from 2024 to 2033 (below), with production increasing to >230,000 oz per year from 2026 -2031 including Toega and the M5 South Underground.

 

West African acquired 90% of the Kiaka Gold Project in Burkina Faso from B2 Gold Corp and partner GAMS-Mining F&I in November 2021. The remaining 10% interest is held by the Government of Burkina Faso.

Kiaka is 45km south of West African’s flagship Sanbrado Gold Operations in Burkina Faso and about 110km southeast of the capital Ouagadougou. The project has Resources of 285 Mt at 0.9 g/t for 7.9 Moz gold and Reserves of 164 Mt at 0.9 g/t for 4.8 Moz gold.

Kiaka will be a long-life, low-cost gold project averaging 234,000oz of gold production per annum for 20 years from 2025.

In June 2023, the company secured a US$265 million syndicated corporate loan facility from Sprott Resource Lending Corp and Coris Bank International SA, ensuring that the project is fully funded to production, also using existing cash and internal cash flow from Sanbrado.

Kiaka construction remains on time and on budget, with first gold production on track for Q3 2025.

West African’s Toega deposit is within trucking distance (13km southwest) of the company’s Sanbrado Gold Operations and will be a satellite mining operation, providing seven years of ore feed to the Sanbrado processing plant.

The Toega Gold Deposit has a strike of more than 1,200m, is up to 430m wide and has been drilled to a depth of 400m below surface. Toega’s open pit has a Mineral Resource Estimate of 21.7 million tonnes at 1.8 g/t gold for 1,279,000 oz gold and an Ore reserve of 9.5 million tonnes at 1.9 g/t gold for 569,000 oz gold.

A mining license for Toega’s open pit has been granted, and it will commence production in H2 2025, providing a higher-grade ore source to supplement M5 North. Toega is scheduled to align its pre-production stripping costs with the start of gold production at Kiaka.

In addition, West African has defined a maiden underground resource of 4.9Mt at 3.5 g/t gold for 560,000 oz gold at Toega. The resource remains open at depth and is currently only constrained by the depth of drilling.

A Scoping Study outlined the potential for an initial seven-year underground mine life at Toega producing an average of 81,000 ounces of gold per annum post ramp up in years 2 to 6. Toega underground material is expected to displace up to 1Mtpa of lower grade open-pit, resulting in a potential increase in annual production of ~50,000 oz gold when compared to WAF’s 10-year production plan released in July 2024.

Mineral Resources

West African Resources released an updated 2024 Resources, Reserves and 10-year production outlook for its Sanbrado Gold Operations and the Kiaka Gold Project in Burkina Faso in July 2024.

West African Group Mineral Resources (July 2024)

Ore Reserves Update

The Ore Reserves statement is reported according to the JORC Code 2012. A gold price of US$1400/oz was used for open-pit and underground Ore Reserve estimation.

10-Year Production Outlook

WAF’s updated 10-year production target is set to average more than 420,000oz per annum from 2024 to 2033. Between 2026 and 2031, the Group is expected to average more than 480,000oz per annum after Kiaka delivers its first full year of production, peaking at 494,000oz in 2030. The current mine plans for Sanbrado and Kiaka will be exhausted in 2034 and 2042, respectively, based on a US$1,400/oz gold price and current drilling.

The Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves underpinning the production target were prepared by Competent Persons in accordance with the JORC Code 2012.

West African Group 10 Year Production Target including Inferred Mineral Resources – Ore Tonnes by Project

There is a low level of geological confidence associated with Inferred Mineral Resources, and there is no certainty that further exploration work will result in the determination of Indicated Mineral Resources or that the production target itself will be realised.