Name of the Project
Kiaka gold project.

Location
About 45 km south of West African Resources’ (WAF’s) existing Sanbrado gold mine, in Burkina Faso.

Project Owner/s
Midtier gold producer WAF (90%) and the government of Burkina Faso (10%).

Project Description
A feasibility study update published on July 2, 2024, has confirmed the strong cash flows expected from the project and incorporates improvements of the project’s initial feasibility study, released on August 3, 2022. Average gold production is estimated at 258 000 oz/y in the first five years and at 234 000 oz/y over the forecast 20-year mine life.

The 2024 feasibility update incorporates a change from contract mining to an owner mining strategy, enabling WAF to realise greater benefits from the long-life and consistent mining rates of the large-scale Kiaka openpit operations. The investment includes new, larger-sized equipment and robust, fully equipped mine maintenance facilities. Bigger 230 t excavators have been matched to bigger 140 t dump trucks, compared with the 140 t excavators and 95 t trucks used in the 2022 feasibility study, allowing for an increase in the openpit mining rate by 3.3-million tonnes a year.

The 2024 feasibility study update is based on conventional openpit mining methods, with run-of-mine ore being directly fed to the crushing circuit. Kiaka’s free-milling gold ore will be processed through a conventional single-stage gyratory crushing and semiautogenous ball mill crusher milling circuit followed by carbon-
in-leach processing.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an improved after-tax net present value, at a 5% discount rate, of $1.18-billion and an internal rate of return of 27%, with a pretax payback of 2.25 years on preproduction development capital.

Capital Expenditure
The feasibility study update estimates preproduction development capital at $447-million, excluding owner mining.

Planned Start/End Date
Kiaka is on schedule for first gold production in the third quarter of 2025.

Latest Developments
WAF remains on time and on budget with construction at the project.

Project director Matt Scully has confirmed that five of seven concrete lifts, and the wing walls at the project’s processing plant are now complete.

The structural, mechanical and piping contractor is nearing completion of the first conveyor, with a second conveyor’s construction well under way.

The company has also established foundations for a pebble crusher and completed a lime silo installation.

West African is using a newly acquired 550 t heavy lift crane to aid construction of the processing plant on site.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
West African Resources, tel +61 8 9481 7344 or email info@westafricanresources.com.