It’s a busy news day for Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU, TSX:PRU, OTC:PMNXF), which has delivered strong results from ongoing exploration at and around its two operating gold mines in Côte d’Ivoire and sealed a deal with a Saudi-based entity to explore in that jurisdiction as well as North Africa.
Yaouré and Sissingué shine
At Yaouré Gold Mine, drilling continues to demonstrate the down-dip potential of the CMA underground mineral resource and add further confidence in opportunities to expand the Yaouré open pit mineral resource.
Drilling has pinpointed previously unidentified shallow mineralisation immediately east of the CMA pit – now called the Zain 1 prospect.
At the Sissingué Gold Mine and Fimbiasso Satellite Pits, ongoing exploration continues to identify extensions to existing mineral deposits and other prospects that have significant potential to extend the life of the Sissingué operation.
Gold highlights
A small cross-section of the results from drilling at Yaouré includes:
- 12 metres at 4.58 g/t gold from 325 metres and 3 metres at 6.27 g/t from 349 metres;
- 14.25 metres at 3.95 g/t from 566.75 metres;
- 10.4 metres at 4.35 g/t from 362.6 metres;
- 16 metres at 2.08 g/t from 171 metres;
- 18 metres at 2.57 g/t from 109 metres, including 2 metres at 9.54 g/t from 124 metres; and
- 4.95 metres at 6.17 g/t from 111.8 metres, 12 metres at 1.08 g/t from 119 metres and 18.2 metres at 3.32 g/t from 134 metres.
A similarly small selection of the raft of intersections from Sissingue includes:
- 12 metres at 1.77 g/t gold from 63 metres;
- 11 metres at 1.83 g/t from 35 metres;
- 8 metres at 13.71 g/t from 20 metres;
- 2 metres at 23.38 g/t from 49 metres and 13 metres at 3.83 g/t from 52 metres;
- 18 metres at 4.05 g/t from 132 metres;
- 6 metres at 3.78 g/t from 118 metres; and
- 9 metres at 2.10 g/t from 109 metres.
"We are on track"
“Perseus considers that organic growth through successful exploration is the most cost-effective way to grow our business and to create value for stakeholders,” Perseus chair and CEO Jeff Quartermaine said.
“To deliver this outcome, Perseus has been funding active exploration programs at all three of its operating sites including the Yaouré and Sissingué gold mines in Côte d’Ivoire and the Edikan gold mine in Ghana.
“The encouraging drilling results reported today from our latest exploration campaigns conducted in and around the Yaouré and Sissingué gold mines, provide clear evidence that we are well on track to not only improve the quality of our existing asset base by extending the lives of each of these mines, but also maintaining Perseus’s targeted levels of combined gold production of more than 500,000 ounces of gold per year to the end of the current decade and beyond.”
Saudi exploration deal
Alongside this is the news that the African-focused gold producer, developer and explorer has signed a cooperation agreement with Ajlan and Bros Mining and Metals Company (ABM), the mining division of a Saudi Arabia-based investment conglomerate company, Ajlan Brothers.
Under the binding agreement, Perseus and ABM will jointly investigate co-investment in projects in Saudi Arabia and on the African continent, including projects in northern African countries, such as Algeria, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan.
“Entering into a cooperation agreement with ABM represents an important milestone in Perseus’s continued evolution into a geographically diversified explorer, developer and producer of gold,” said Quartermaine.
“To date, we have focused our organic growth programs on land located close to our existing mine infrastructure at our three operating mines in Ghana and Côte dÍvoire.
“While this has proved very beneficial to Perseus in terms of immediately replacing ore reserves depleted through our operating activities which produce in excess of 500,000 ounces of gold per year, this recent initiative opens up a new area of endeavour in some of the most prolific, under-explored mineral provinces in the world.
“To be gaining access to these areas in partnership with a Saudi-based company gives us a high level of confidence that we will be well equipped to manage the culturally different settings that we may encounter and to navigate the challenges that arise in these jurisdictions from time to time.”