The Burkina Faso government’s Council of Ministers has approved the mining permit application submitted by Orezone Gold for its Bomboré gold project in central Burkina Faso. The company anticipates receipt of the formal mining permit and related mining convention from the Burkina Faso tax department in the coming months.
Meanwhile, Orezone is working to complete detailed engineering and all time-sensitive tasks required for a Bomboré construction, planned for the second quarter of 2017. The company is also working on securing project financing.
Project development at Bomboré will be based on a 2015 feasibility study for an oxide-only heap leach and combined carbon-in-leach circuit with throughput capacity of 5.5 million mt/yr. Gold production is forecast at 135,000 oz/y over the first eight years.
The feasibility study indicates robust project economics, including an after tax return of 24% at a $1,250 gold price and a 2.7-year payback. Capital required to build the project is estimated at $250 million, including all working capital, contingencies, and an owner-operated fleet of new equipment.
Current measured and indicated resources at Bomboré include 2 million oz in oxide material grading 0.9 g/mt and more than 2.6 million oz in sulphide material grading 1.1 g/mt. Orezone is working on a resource update that will include an additional 50,000 m of infill drilling.
Orezone is a Canadian company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario and listed on the Toronto Venture Stock Exchange.