PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold hopeful Bassari Resources has been given the go-ahead by the Senegalese government to start early stage development work at the Makabingui gold project.
The Minister of Industry and Geology has also authorised Bassari to proceed with the incorporation of a designated new exploitation company to develop Makabingui.
Bassari told shareholders on Thursday that the early development work would include infrastructure upgrades, such as the rehabilitation of roads, upgrade of the camp, fencing of the mining area, concreting to expand the plant area for the processing plant upgrade and dam reparation.
The Makabingui project currently has a mineral resource of 11.9-million tonnes, grading 2.6 g/t gold for one-million ounces of gold. The first stage of development will see an openpit operation to access high-grade pits comprising 180 000 mined ounces.
The openpit mining operations will be extended to mine deeper resources, and could include underground operations, while further openpits were expected to be developed within the tenement and along strike.
The project was expected to have a processing rate of 300 000 t/y and deliver average annual production of 50 000 oz, over a nearly four-year mine life.