Burkina Faso Ministry of the Environment, Green Economy and Climate Change approved an updated Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) for the Sanbrado Gold Project in April 2018. Sanbrado will be operated to both Burkinabé and internationally recognised environmental and social standards, in particular the Performance Standards of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The updated ESIA reflected the proposed processing change from heap leach to carbon in leach extraction, and addition of underground mining to the overall mine plan.

The Council of Ministers of the Government of Burkina Faso also approved changes to the original mining permit for the Sanbrado Gold Project, encompassing revised mining and ore processing methods, detailed in the June 2018 updated feasibility study. The updated mining permit approves changes to include underground mining in addition to open pit mining and approves using the carbon in leach (CIL) processing method.

In July 2019 West African announced approval of the Mining Convention for Sanbrado as the final major permitting milestone. The Mining Convention was issued in accordance with the 2015 Burkina Faso Mining Code, details of which were reported in the Feasibility Study release (ASX 16/4/2019) and in the NI 43-101 Technical Report dated 25 March 2019. The convention is valid for the current 10-year mine life and can be renewed for additional of five year periods.

Sanbrado is located within a northeast-trending volcano-sedimentary belt that is bounded to the east by the Markoye Fault, one of the two major structures subdividing Burkina Faso into three litho-tectonic domains. The Sanbrado deposit is associated with the Lower Proterozoic system of the Birimian (2.1-2.2 billion years) comprising granites, metavolcanics and metasedimentary rocks.

Gold mineralisation in the project area is associated with shearing, quartz veining and silica, sulphide and carbonate-albite, tourmaline-biotite alteration. Gold is free and is mainly associated with minor sulphides including pyrite, chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite.

Regional Geology, Eastern Burkina Faso

 

Mineral Resources and Reserves – 31 December 2020

To read the ASX announcement from 9th March 2021 please click here.

The Sanbrado Mineral Resource estimates were updated by independent resource consultants International
Resource Solutions Pty Ltd (IRS) in accordance with JORC (2012) guidelines. The portion of M1 South Mineral
Resources termed “M1 South Deeps” was updated by Neil Silvio who is an employee of the Company. Mineral
resources have been estimated in accordance with the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results,
Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the ‘JORC Code’) 2012 edition. Mineral resources have been estimated
for the Project consisting of the following gold deposits: Mankarga 1 North (M1 North), Mankarga 1 South
(M1 South), Mankarga 3 (M3), Mankarga 5 (M5) and the newly acquired Toega deposit, which now forms part
of the Sanbrado Gold Operation.

Competent Persons and Qualified Persons Statement

Information in this announcement that relates to mineral resources (excluding M1 South Deeps) is based on, and fairly represents, information and supporting documentation prepared by Mr Brian Wolfe, an independent consultant specialising in mineral resource estimation, evaluation, and exploration.  Mr Wolfe is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists.  Mr Wolfe has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person (or “CP”) as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves.  Mr Wolfe has reviewed the contents of this announcement and consents to the inclusion in this announcement of all technical statements based on his information in the form and context in which they appear.

Information in this announcement that relates to mineral resources for the M1 South Deeps is based on, and fairly represents, information and supporting documentation prepared by Mr Neil Silvio, an employee and Resource Geologist of the Company.  Mr Silvio is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists.  Mr Silvio has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person (or “CP”) as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves.  Mr Silvio has reviewed the contents of this announcement and consents to the inclusion in this announcement of all technical statements based on his information in the form and context in which they appear.

Information in this announcement that relates to open pit ore reserves is based on, and fairly represents, information and supporting documentation prepared by Mr Stuart Cruickshanks, a fulltime employee of the Company.  Mr Cruickshanks is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.  Mr Cruickshanks has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person (or “CP”) as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves.  Mr Cruickshanks has reviewed the contents of this announcement and consents to the inclusion in this announcement of all technical statements based on his information in the form and context in which they appear.

Information in this announcement that relates to underground ore reserves is based on, and fairly represents, information and supporting documentation prepared by Mr Andrew Fox, an independent specialist mining consultant.  Mr Fox is a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.  Mr Fox has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person (or “CP”) as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves.  Mr Fox has reviewed the contents of this announcement and consents to the inclusion in this announcement of all technical statements based on his information in the form and context in which they appear.