Our consulting engineers and management team have set the basis for a quality feasibility study which is in progress, and which will incorporate the positive recent infill and step out exploration results recently announced.
The PEA is preliminary in nature, includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized.
A number of trade-offs were completed by DRA Global and Pasofino during the PEA work, including the evaluation of processing capacities from 4Mtpa to 7Mpta and a trade-off on a full range of power options.
During the first 4 years, operating costs are kept low by mining the shallow mineralized material in both pits at a targeted strip ratio of less than 2.8, increasing thereafter to an average of 6.8 over the balance of life of mine.
With the PEA now complete, the foundation is now set for the completion of the feasibility study in order to then fully demonstrate the financial viability of the Project, which is ongoing.
The combined Project covers an area of 2,559km2 and is defined within a single Mineral Development Agreement , issued to Hummingbird in January 2019, valid for 25 years.
The nearest town of consequence is Greenville, the Sinoe County capital, which has a basic port and a palm oil processing centre, but no grid-scale utilities.
SRK originally produced an MRE for Tuzon in March 2014.
Table 1 provides the MRE for the Dugbe Gold Project which has been prepared in accordance with the terminology, definitions and guidelines given in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum .
As Pasofino is completing drilling work with the intention of converting Inferred Resources into Indicated Resources, the PEA work included Inferred material, in order to obtain a more accurate processing capacity for the probable mine life.
A number of historical test work programs have been undertaken on samples originating from the Dugbe F and Tuzon deposits over the period 2009 to 2014.
Based on previously reported similarities between the Dugbe F and Tuzon ore deposits in terms of mineralisation style, host lithology type and geometry, DRA interprets the metallurgical response for Dugbe F would be similar to Tuzon.
From the historical test work, gold recoveries are expected to range from 87.1% to 89.5%, averaging 88.4% over LoM.
The main requirement is to upgrade the existing access roads and tracks to accommodate the anticipated traffic volumes during mining operations, as well as providing public access to the local villages.
Water will be returned to the process plant for reuse, and excess water will be discharged in a controlled manner to the environment.
As there is no electrical utility infrastructure in the vicinity of the mine site, energy demands must be met through local generation.
A high-level trade-off study was completed to determine the most cost-effective power generation technologies available to the Project; where the levelized cost of energy was compared between thermal generation power generation.
The volume of fuel required supports the landing of new fuel storage and handling infrastructure at Greenville Port, with delivery to site taking place via road tanker.
Total LoM average operational costs are estimated to be approximately USD134 million per annum equivalent to a unit rate of USD28/t RoM.
All-in sustaining costs have been reported as per the World Gold Council guideline dated November 2018 and are exclusive of project capital, depreciation and amortisation costs.
Scientific or technical information in this disclosure was reviewed by Mr Martin Pittuck a full-time employee of SRK UK.
Scientific or technical information in this disclosure that relates to mining, processing and related infrastructure results was reviewed by Mr Robin Welsh, a full-time employee of DRA Global.
The 2,559 km2 Dugbe Project is located in southern Liberia and situated within the south westmost part of the Birimian Supergroup, which is host to the majority of West African gold deposits.
In 2019, Hummingbird signed a 25-year Mineral Development Agreement , the fuel duty is reduced by 50%, and the Government of Liberia is granted a free carried interest of 10% in the Project.
A technical report for the Dugbe Gold Project will be prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 and will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company’s website at www.pasofinogold.com within 45 days of this news release.
Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as “plan”, “expect”, “project”, “seek”, “intend”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “estimate”, “suggest”, “indicate” and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions “may” or “will” occur, and include, without limitation, statements regarding the ability to raise the funds to finance its ongoing business activities including the acquisition of mineral projects and the exploration and development of its projects.
This news release includes certain terms or performance measures commonly used in the mining industry that are not defined under International Financial Reporting Standards , including cash costs and AISC per payable ounce of gold sold.
AISC per payable ounce includes all mining costs, processing costs, mine level G&A, royalties, sustaining capital and closure costs.