Centamin aims to add 3.0 million gold ounces to reserves
Centamin PLC (CEE-TSX, LON-CEY) said Thursday it plans to add 3.0 million ounces of gold to its mineral reserves by 2024. It said the vision for growth includes extending the underground mine life at its key Sukari mine in Egypt to 10 years.
Centamin CEO Martin Horgan said the company hopes to reach that target through organic growth over the next 24 months.
These are targets that underpin the company’s vision of becoming a multi-asset gold producer. “Our focused geology campaign over the next 12 months, led by a revitalized geological leadership team, has highlighted the tremendous opportunities in the business and potential of our assets,” said Horgan, during a virtual capital markets webcast hosted by the company on Thursday.
Centamin Plc is a mineral exploration and development mining company with a dual listing on the London and Toronto stock exchanges.
Centamin’s principal asset, the Sukari Gold Mine, began production in 2009 and is the first large scale modern mine in Egypt. Base case production is 500,000 ounces per year, with the potential to exceed this level as optimisation of the mining and processing operations continues.
The company said it hopes to achieve “first mover advantage in Egypt” through a two-year exploration program scheduled from the first quarter of 2022, with targets generated across 3,000 square kilometres of exploration ground in Egypt’s highly prospective Arabian Nubian Shield.
Meanwhile, Centamin said it drilling last year increased the overall mineral resources at its ABC project in Cote d’Ivoire by nearly 100% to 2.16 million ounces of gold in the inferred resource category, up from 1.15 million ounces in a previous estimate.
ABC is a greenfield exploration project consisting of three permits, covering 1,143 square kilometres.
The company’s other key asset is the Doropo Project, which is located in northeast Cote d’Ivoire between Comoe National Park and the international border with Burkina Faso.
The Doropo Project covers 13 deposits over an area of 1,874 square kilometres.
Studies indicate that the project can produce 1.96 million ounces of gold over an operating life of 13 years with average gold production of 208,000 ounces during the first five years of operations.
The initial capital cost, including working capital and contingency is estimated at US$275 million with an all-in-sustaining cost of US$904 an ounce.
A pre-feasibility study is underway at Doropo. The company said the study is on track for completion by mid-2022.
Centamin shares eased 0.62% or $0.01 to $1.60 in light trading. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $3.55 and $1.57.