Orezone Gold Corporation, which operates the Orezone Bomboré mine in Burkina Faso, announced its 2023 gold production results on 18 January 2024 in Vancouver, Canada. In the same press release, it announced that the Bomboré mine would be connected to the national electricity grid.
During 2023, gold production totalled 4.399 tonnes. This production reached the company’s annual forecasts thanks to the performance recorded in the 4th quarter of 2023. For the year as a whole, gold sales totalled 4.345 tonnes at an average price of 1,940 dollars per ounce, generating sales of approximately 163 billion FCFA (271 million USD).
Connection to the SONABEL electricity network
Commenting on the results, Patrick Downey, President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “Thanks to a strong fourth quarter, the Bomboré mine had a successful first full year of operations and achieved its targets, which is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our operating team. The operational performance was accompanied by an excellent safety record, with zero lost-time accidents in 2023.”
For the President and Chief Executive Officer : “I am also delighted to announce that construction of the Bomboré power line was completed on schedule at the end of December. Commissioning and acceptance by SONABEL, the state electricity supplier, of the site’s power supply began in early January and is now complete. The treatment plant is currently being powered up and will be completed by 21 January 2024. The power line replaces the use of on-site diesel generators for power supply, significantly reducing our operating costs and carbon footprint.”
Phase 2 of the expansion
During 2023, Orezone began an expansion of Phase II of its project. Initial work on the Bomboré Phase II expansion began in the fourth quarter of 2023. This included ordering the crusher, initial engineering and earthworks at the hard rock plant site.
Discussions with the main lender, Coris Bank, are continuing and the company expects to receive a financing proposal later in the first quarter.
Orezone Gold Corporation is a Canadian mining company that operates the Bomboré open-pit gold mine in Burkina Faso.
The company operates and processes Phase I open-pit oxides close to surface at a throughput of 5.9 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa). The Company’s Phase II expansion project consists of a stand-alone 4.4 million tonnes per annum hard rock plant operating in parallel with the existing oxide plant to significantly increase annual gold production at a low incremental capital cost. Construction of the new 4.4 million tonnes per annum hard rock plant will enable Bomboré to produce an average of 209,000 ounces of gold per annum at an AISC of 1,121 dollars per ounce for more than eight years. The first gold production from Phase II of the expansion is scheduled for the third quarter of 2025. There is significant exploration potential to increase Bomboré’s mineral reserves through future resource conversion and new discoveries resulting from the drilling of promising, priority targets.
Elie KABORE
#Mines_Actu_Burkina
