Projects
Perseus Mining is an advanced West African emerging gold producer with our two most advanced projects at different stages of evaluation and development.
From 2005 to the end of 2010 there were approximately 15 new gold mines in West Africa, averaging 200,000 ounces per year, making West Africa a stand-out gold producing region.
Perseus Mining's lead project is the Edikan Gold Mine (EGM), formerly known as the Central Ashanti Gold Project (CAGP), in Ghana, where we started production in August 2011 and entered commercial production on 1 January 2012. EGM comprises a group of large gold deposits located in the Ashanti gold belt.
A feasibility study for Phase 1 of the EGM confirmed robust economics for the project. Current Reserves stand at 3.3Moz with additional Measured and Indicated resources totalling 5.3Moz and Inferred resources at 1.78Moz. Part of EGM, the Bokitsi deposit has Indicated resources of 212,000 ounces of gold and Inferred resources containing 89,000 ounces of gold. Located east of EGM, the Grumesa Project has 0.5Moz of Measured & Indicated Resources and 0.25Moz of Inferred Resources.
The Tengrela Gold Project in Ivory Coast is an underexplored project with a current open-ended gold resource, containing 0.9Moz of Indicated resources, 0.3Moz of Inferred resources at Sissingue and 0.66Moz in Reserves. Sissingue is the first of nine prospects on the project to be tested by reverse circulation and air core drilling. Perseus has recently progressed its development, lodging an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment with Ivorian authorities in September 2011, and awarding a design contract for the Sissingue processing facility to Perth-based GR Engineering Services Pty Ltd.
With commercial production at EGM underway, our plan is to produce at the initial rate of about 220,000 ounces of gold in year 1 and increase this to about 300,000 ounces per annum by 2013.
We are targeting production at Tengrela in 2013. Tengrela has the potential to become a significant contributor to our goal to develop into a 400,000-ounce per year gold producer by 2013.
Significant drilling is continuing in 2012 with up to seven rigs operating at EGM and up to six at Tengrela.
For a description of Perseus’s data verification process, quality assurance and quality control measures, the effective date of the mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates contained herein, details of the key assumptions, parameters and methods used to estimate the mineral resources and reserves set out in this report and the extent to which the estimate of mineral resources or mineral reserves set out herein may be materially affected by any known environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing or other relevant issues, readers are directed to the technical report entitled “Technical Report - Central Ashanti Gold Project, Ghana” dated May 30, 2011 and the technical report entitled ‘‘Technical Report - Tengrela Gold Project, Côte d’Ivoire’’ dated December 22, 2010 in relation to the Edikan Gold Mine (formerly the Central Ashanti Gold Project) and the Tengrela Gold Project respectively.