AMN - GHANA: Wa development funding reduced to $142 million

Ghana gold explorer and developer Azumah Resources announces the review and update of the March 2015 Feasibility Study has substantially reduced capital funding requirements by $54 million to $142 million for its proposed 90,000oz/year, seven-year initial mine-life, Wa Gold Project in north-west Ghana.

The revised study was undertaken primarily to incorporate several pre-development and mining initiatives and to reflect the markedly more competitive environment amongst equipment and service providers. Mining capital and operating costs were updated to reflect a change in fleet ownership from

Azumah to the mining contractor, which, combined with a rescheduling of ore during construction, saved $33.8 million in capital.

No changes were made to plant design or supporting infrastructure with plant throughput maintained at a nominal 1.2 million tonnes/year for primary ore (1.8 million tonnes/year for softer oxide material). Inside the fence plant costs reduced by $7 million to $48.3 million.

The capital cost estimate includes all project costs required to be expended post commencement of Front End Engineering Design (FEED). All project costs incurred before this (such as the cost of the Study) have not been included and are considered sunk costs.

The revised costs, as for 2015, were to achieve an estimate accuracy of +15%/-5% and include all labour, EPCM services, equipment, materials, taxes, fees, duties, pre-production mining, freight, first-fills of plant reagents and consumables, spare parts and working capital required to design, procure, construct and commission all of the facilities required to establish the project.

www.azumahresources.com.au

News courtesy of International Mining