Boyd, Roosen, Quartermain: It takes grit, invention, luck to make the big time
Mining industry legends discuss the backstories on their multibillion-dollar successes.
Africa-focused Perseus Mining (ASX,TSX:PRU) said Tuesday that drill results from the Esuajah Gap deposit at its Edikan gold mine in Ghana show the asset contains “significant” mineralized granite bodes well for a productive life extension.
While Edikan currently has only six years of resources left, the company believes the mine life could be extended by tapping into the Esuajah Gap discovery.
Based on drilling results to date, the find exhibits similarities to both the 475,000-ounce gold Esuajah North and 391,000-ounce gold Esuajah South deposits.
Drilling was undertaken as part of efforts to extend the life of Edikan gold mine, which currently has six years left.
Perseus’s managing director Jeff Quartermaine said the company now has sufficient data to delineate a cross-section of the Esuajah Gap mineralization that has revealed encouraging similarities to the Esuajah North and South orebodies that flank the prospect.
“The proximity of the Esuajah Gap discovery to the Esuajah South ore body opens up the possibility of a future joint development of the two deposits and a material extension to the life of mine,” Quartermaine said.
The dual-listed miner is gaining significant traction at its West Africa’s operations. Early this year, it began commercial production at its Sissingué gold mine in northern Cote d’Ivoire ahead of schedule.
Last month, Perseus decided to go ahead with a finance plan for its Yaouré gold project, the company’s third planned operation, also in Côte d’Ivoire.
Analysts expect the country to become a power-hub in the next few years thanks to its revamped 2014 mining code and strong infrastructure development. A report by Fitch Solutions Macro Research (former BMI Research) forecasts a 15.6% growth for Côte d’Ivoire’s mining sector by 2021.
Perseus shares closed in Sydney Tuesday 2.7% higher to 38 Australian cents and 5.8% higher in Toronto on Monday at 36.5 Canadian cents.
