Name of the Project
Nabanga gold project.

Location
Burkina Faso.

Project Owner/s
Semafo.

Project Description
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on the Nabanga project has proved positive.

The PEA envisions a combination of contract-operated openpit and underground mining methods for the Nabanga deposit.

The top portion of the mineralised zone is expected to be recovered by conventional truck and shovel openpit mining down to a maximum depth of 60 m to 70 m.

Openpit production is contemplated at a rate of 16 000 t/d for 14.7-million tonnes of material, including 616 000 t of mineralised material at an average grade of 6.45 g/t gold. Drill-and-blast will be required at the beginning of the excavation work because there is almost no overburden.

The openpit operation is planned over 2.5 years, including the preproduction period.

Below the openpit, recovery of the mineralised zone is foreseen using an underground mining method (sublevel longhole stoping), using cemented rock fill. In the scenario presented in the PEA, development of the underground mine will start in the second year of operations, starting from one of the small satellite pits located towards the central portion of the Nabanga deposit.

More than 9 600 m of underground development are planned over the life-of-mine (LoM) of the project to unlock the different mineralised zones. An estimated 2.37-million tonnes of material, with an average head-grade of 6.48 g/t gold are expected to be mined from underground operations at an average of 1 000 t/d during the seven-year projected LoM.

Over the LoM, combined openpit and underground production is estimated at 2.98-million tonnes at an average grade of 6.47g/t gold.

A cutoff grade of 2 g/t gold has been used for the openpit mineralised material while a cutoff grade of 3.7 g/tgold has been used for the underground mineralisation.

The Nabanga process plant will be based on a conventional crushing and grinding circuit, with the crushing circuit comprising a single-stage jaw crusher.

Crushed ore will then be conveyed to the grinding circuit using a semiautogenous grinding mill and ball mill circuit.

Following that, a floatation circuit is expected to recover an estimated 80% of the gold-bearing minerals, with the remaining 20% treated in carbon-in-leach (CIL) tanks.

The floatation concentrate will pass to the regrind mill to reduce the particle size before being sent to an intensive leach reactor.

The CIL stream will undergo pressure elution, after which both pregnant solutions will be sent to electrowinning cells for gold recovery.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value, at a 5% discount rate, of $147-million and an internal rate of return of 22.6%, with a payback of 4.4 years.

Capital Expenditure
The project will require a capital investment of $84-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Recommended next steps in the PEA include drilling the mineral resources up to the measured and indicated categories and launching a feasibility study to demonstrate the expected economic and technical parameters.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Semafo, VP corporate development and investor relations John Jentz, email John.Jentz@semafo.com.