Toronto-headquartered miner Barrick Gold is “committed to delivering” the Massawa gold project and is working with the Senegal government on “how best to bring the gold project to account”, CEO Mark Bristow said on Tuesday.

His comments follow a meeting with Senegal President Macky Sall earlier in the day and come only weeks after newswire Bloomberg reported that the major is working with advisers to sell the project, which it acquired as part of its Randgold Resources acquisition.

In a media statement, issued with a Dakar dateline, Bristow said that Massawa offered “enormous potential value to Barrick shareholders, future investors and its Senegalese stakeholders”.

“Barrick is committed to delivering Massawa for the benefit of all stakeholders. We are now addressing how best to realise the full value of this asset in cooperation with the government.”

The Bloomberg article of July 7, which quotes unnamed sources, states that Barrick is working with advisers to find a buyer for the Massawa project. It also refers back to a May 2019 interview, in which Bristow said that Massawa was an example of a project where Barrick could sell part of its stake to another miner operating nearby.

Randgold discovered Massawa and its associated orebody, Sofia, and has invested $96.2-milion in a feasibility study. Subsequent to the original feasibility model, an updated reserve pricing to $1 200/oz resulted in a total probable mineral reserve of 20.9-million tonnes at 3.94 g/t for 2.6-million ounces.

The feasibility study also defined additional upside within Massawa’s $1 500/oz mineral resource base including an indicated mineral resource of 23-million tonnes at 4.00 g/t for three-million ounces and an inferred mineral resource of 6.3-million tonnes at 3.0g /t for 0.6-million ounces.

Ongoing exploration in 2019 has identified additional opportunities to further add to the project inventory.

The project’s environmental impact study has been approved and a mining permit application and plan have been submitted to the government.

Barrick believes that Massawa represents an opportunity to further develop Senegal’s gold mining industry. The company, through Randgold, has invested $141-million in exploration in Senegal since 2002. In addition to Massawa, Barrick has a large exploration programme adjacent to Senegal’s border with Mali and close to its Loulo-Gounkoto complex as part of its Bambadji joint venture.