En Côte d’Ivoire, la production d’or est en constante augmentation depuis quelques années, portée par l’entrée en service de nouvelles mines. Progressivement, le pays se rapproche des principaux producteurs du continent.
La junior minière Montage Gold veut bientôt lancer les travaux de construction de sa première mine d’or en Côte d’Ivoire. Pour y arriver, elle a annoncé ce mercredi 9 mars la nomination du cabinet londonien de conseil en financement d’entreprise HCF International Advisers pour l’aider dans la mobilisation des fonds nécessaires.
« L’intérêt des investisseurs pour le projet a augmenté de manière significative suite à la publication de l’étude de faisabilité et nous sommes impatients de commencer le processus de financement du projet qui se déroulera en parallèle avec nos efforts d’obtention de permis », explique Hugh Stuart, PDG de Montage.
Selon l’étude de faisabilité en question, la future mine d’or Koné peut livrer en moyenne 207 000 onces par an sur une durée de vie de 14,8 ans, à un coût moyen de 933 $ l’once. Au cours actuel de l’or à près de 2 000 $ l’once, c’est potentiellement un bénéfice de plus de 1 000 $/l’once pour la junior minière qui a fixé un délai de récupération de 2,7 ans dans son étude, en se basant sur un prix de l’or à 1 600 $ l’once.
C’est un atout qui devrait jouer en faveur de Montage Gold et l’aider à mobiliser assez facilement le financement pour les travaux. S’il faudra attendre l’octroi du permis minier et la conclusion d’une convention minière avec l’Etat pour avoir des détails sur les retombées financières pour la Côte d’Ivoire, notons déjà que l’entrée en production de la mine d’or Koné contribuera à augmenter la production nationale.
Emiliano Tossou
(Agence Ecofin)
Overview
The Koné Gold Project (“KGP”, or the “Project”) is located approximately 350 kilometres north-west of Yamoussoukro, the political capital of Côte d’Ivoire, and approximately 600 kilometres north-west of Abidjan, the commercial capital of the country.
It comprises the 300 km2 Koné Exploration Permit (PR 262), the 362 km2 Faradougou Exploration Permit (PR 748) and three exploration permit applications that have been submitted by Montage totaling 780 km2. In total, the KGP covers 1,442 km2 of highly prospective exploration ground, the majority of which has never been explored.
Montage believes the Koné deposit has the potential to become the centre of gravity in new gold district with the potential to exploit numerous small, higher-grade satellite deposits the effect of which will be to further improve Project economics.
The Project is ideally situated near existing infrastructure and is accessible year-round via asphalt road and has access to ample water resources.
History
Over the last 12 years exploration on the Koné Gold Project (formally the Morondo Gold Project) has been run by the same local team working for a number of different companies but throughout under the direction of Montage CEO, Hugh Stuart.
The application for the Koné Exploration Permit was made by Red Back Mining in 2008 with soil sampling and trenching leading to the first shallow drilling by Red Back in 2010 just prior to the company’s acquisition by Kinross.
In 2013, Sirocco Gold, run by the ex-Red Back Management optioned the permit from Kinross and completed follow up shallow RC drilling defining the extents of the Koné deposit.
In 2017, Orca Gold, again run by the same ex-Red Back management acquired the full permit package from Kinross for stock and the pace of exploration increased with the first deeper RC drilling, 528m of core drilling to provide samples for initial metallurgical test work and following positive results a 13,360m RC program leading to the Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate in October 2018 (the “October 2018 MRE”).
Exploration completed by Montage from its formation in August 2019 up to the point of its initial public offering (“IPO”) in October 2020 focussed on expanding the knowledge of the Koné deposit at depth and extending surface geochemistry across previously unsampled eastern part of the permit.
Upon completion of the Company’s IPO, Montage first conducted a 20,000m expansion drill program during Q4 2020, targeting resource expansion below the depth extent of the October 2018 MRE. This drilling was successful in delineating a 4.00Moz Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate in January 2021 (the “January 2021 MRE”).
From January 2021 through July 2021, Montage completed approximately 60,000m of infill drilling to convert the Inferred Mineral Resource to the Indicated category. The outcome of the infill program was the initial Indicated Mineral Resource reported in the August 2021 MRE. The drilling was not only successful in converting effectively 100% of the January 2021 Inferred Mineral Resource, but also resulted in overall growth of the Koné deposit.
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