- No significant social, health or security incidents
- Gold production 56,307 oz (up 13% on last trimester2022)
- Reduction of maintenance costs
- The company benefits from rising gold prices
- Strengthening treasury and bullion stocks
- Pending the start of production at the Kiaka mine
Richard Hyde, West African’s Executive Chairman and CEO, commented: “I am pleased to report that gold production increased by 13% in the March trimester, while reducing our total sustaining cost. We continue to benefit from higher gold prices as an unhedged gold producer, allowing us to strengthen our cash and bullion inventories, while investing in our growth.
WAF’s unhedged Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves now stand at 12.6 million ounces and 6.4 million ounces of gold, respectively, following successful exploration drilling and feasibility programmes in 2022.
We have advanced our Kiaka gold project by 7.7 million ounces, investing 39 million Australian dollars in construction activities and staged payments for major equipment. The development of Kiaka remains on budget and on schedule for a first gold pour in the second half of 2025. We aim to fund Kiaka with cash and debt and look forward to the announcement of a syndicated debt facility to fully fund Kiaka in the second trimester. Kiaka will be a long-term, low-cost gold project, producing an average of 219,000 oz of gold per year for 18.5 years at an average cost of 1,052 USD/oz.
West African is on track to become a 400,000+ ounce per year gold producer with the development of our second gold mine at Kiaka. Our unhedged 10-year production outlook calls for production of over 200,000 ounces of gold per year in 2023 and 2024, and over 400,000 ounces of gold per year from 2025 to 2032″.
Kiaka Project
- 39 million Australian dollars invested in the Kiaka project during the trimester
- Completion of camp earthworks, continuation of perimeter fence and processing plant earthworks
- Major equipment orders continued, including the primary gyratory crusher and CIL mixers.
- Construction of the permanent camp and security building has begun
- The modernisation of the exploration camp is well underway to support the construction workforce.
- Progress has been made on the draft ESIA and RAP update documents.
Next steps for the trimester
- Completion of the syndicate that will provide 250-300 million US dollars in debt financing for Kiaka
- Communication of the results of the M5 South drilling (Sanbrado), continuation of the opportunity studies on underground exploitation.
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