Avesoro ups West Africa gold reserves by 23%

Avesoro Resources Inc. [ASO-TSX, AIM] on Wednesday May 8 released results of an upgraded mineral resource and mineral reserve estimate as well an updated life-of-mine plan for its Youga gold mine in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

Avesoro is engaged in the exploration and development of gold deposits in under-explored areas of Liberia, Burkina Faso and Cameroon. Its key asset is the New Liberty gold mine, an open pit operation which ranks as Liberia’s first and largest commercial gold mine.

The portfolio also includes the Youga mine in Burkina Faso. It is located approximately 180 km southeast of the Ouagadougou, the capital city. The Youga license contains reserves in seven open pit deposits as well as a 1.1 million tonne-per-year carbon-in-leach processing facility.

Avesoro is targeting annual gold production this year of 210,000 to 230,000 ounces at a forecast all-in sustaining cost of US$1,100-US$1,190 per ounce. Of that amount, 110,000 to 120,000 is expected to come from the Youga mine, with the balance of 100,000-110,000 ounces being generated by New Liberty.

The company produced 109,707 ounces of gold in 2018, marking a 44% increase from 2017.

On Wednesday, the shares were unchanged at $2.01. They trade in a 52-week range of $1.94 and $5.99.

Highlights from Wednesday’s press release include a four-year life-of-mine extension at Youga to 2031 based on current proven and probable mineral reserves. The company said it sees the potential for a further mine life extension that would be driven by additional drilling of existing resources and satellite targets across the 763 km² exploration portfolio surrounding the Youga, Ouare and Balogo deposits.

The company also said it has increased the proven and probable mineral reserves at Youga by 23% to 14.74 million tonnes, containing 814,000 ounces of gold, grading 1.72 g/t gold.

That includes 372,200 ounces of Youga reserves, 403,000 ounces of Ouare reserves, and 39,700 ounces of Balogo reserves.

Avesoro said measured and indicated resources at Youga now stand at 22.16 million tonnes, containing 1.2 million ounces of gold, grading 1.67 g/t. On top of that is an inferred resource of 7.6 million tonnes, containing 377,000 ounces, grading 1.5 g/t gold.

Avesoro CEO Serhan Umurhan said that following the previous announcement of the updated mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates for the New Liberty gold mine in March 2019 and now the Youga gold mine, the company has added 950,000 ounces of gold to its combined mineral reserve inventory.

“Each of our assets experienced an increase in mineral reserves, net of depletion, and as a result, we have substantially extended the lives of both our mines,” Umurhan said. “I now expect the company to sustain group level gold production above 200,000 ounces per annum for each of the next four years as indicated by the updated mine plans.”