Ivory Coast to reap gold with Perseus Mining

Ivory Coast to reap gold with Perseus Mining

The  government of the Côte d’Ivoire has awarded Occidental Gold, a subsidiary of Perseus Mining, an exploitation permit enabling them to develop its Sissingué gold deposit, part of the Tengrela Gold Project  in northern Côte d’Ivoire.  Conservative estimates for  initial probable ore reserve stand at 657,000oz of gold.

Perseus Managing Director, Mark Calderwood said, “We will be making a formal decision to commit to full development once the terms of the Exploitation Permit and details of relevant fiscal terms are confirmed.”

The company published a feasibility study in 2010 for the development of the deposits with the local government and/or a local partner being a 15% stakeholder, which projected production of 340,000oz of gold in the first two years of the mine life with an average cash cost of $505 per oz.

Startup capital cost, as per the study, were pegged at $115m with an additional $33m capital expenditure to be incurred per annum of the remaining mine life.

Following the release of the feasibility study, the company has carried out extensive drilling and has catalogued drill data into an updated mineral resource model to be used for mine planning purposes. Both the mine plan and the model are expected to be released towards the end of 2012.

The company will now look to move ahead with the development of the second gold producing mine at Sissingué.