PERSEUS Mining has clinched $40m in debt funding for the development of its Sissingué gold project in Côte d’Ivoire just under two years after completing a revised feasibility study on the venture.
The feasibility scoped for profitable gold production at Sissingué of some 385,000 ounces during a 5.25-year mine life. All-in sustaining costs would be $632/oz over the life-of-mine.
The Australian firmed also announced today that an additional $20m in funds had been raised for its Ghanaian subsidiary which would be allocated to working capital whilst production at its Edikan mine was ramped up.
In addition to Edikan and Sissingué, Perseus also owns Yaoure, a prospect Perseus bought as part of its $85m all-scrip merger with the UK’s Amara Mining in 2015.
The medium-term goal is for Perseus to produce about 500,000 oz of gold a year, roughly double the output it hopes to achieve with Edikan this year.
Perseus said the cost to completion of Sissingué had now been put at $64m which would be funded by the loan – provided by Macquarie – and Perseus’ internal cash resources.
First production at Sissingué is forecast for the March quarter in 2018. An updated life of mine plan for the project which will include details of the processing of ore form the nearby Bélé, is due to be published later this month.
“We have a very clear vision on where want to take the company,” Perseus MD and CEO Jeff Quartermaine told Miningmx last year. “For the last three to four years, we have been a single mine, single country company.
“We want to bring on steam new mining operations in different jurisdictions. We have a plan that in 14 months we will be producing from Sissingué from Côte d’Ivoire and from 3.5 to four years we expect the Yaoure project to come on stream.
“So we see ourselves very much growth story with an asset portfolio and with that will come consistency and cash flow and then we can look at things like yield,” he said.
