AMN - MALI: First gold poured at Fekola

B2Gold has poured first gold the Fekola project in Mali approximately three months ahead of schedule. Commissioning of the mill is ongoing and commercial production is expected by the end of 2017.

During the current quarter the company is expecting gold production from Fekola of between 50,000 and 55,000 ounces. Next year will be the first full year of production and B2Gold projects the mine will yield 400,000 to 410,000 ounces. The miner says this will mark a growth in excess of 70% in its annual gold production in 2018.

B2Gold completed construction of the mill at Fekola last month and began running ore through the system three months ahead of the original schedule and on budget.

It has also announced a new Life of Mine (LoM) plan showing increased production and lower operating and all in sustaining costs (AISC) compared with the original 4 million tonnes per annum optimised feasibility study for Fekola's 5 million tonnes per annum mill.

Based on the new LoM plan Fekola is projected to produce approximately 400,000 ounces of gold annually for the first three years at operating cash costs of $357 per ounce and all in sustaining costs of $604 per ounce.

For the first seven years Fekola is projected to produce approximately 374,000 ounces of gold annually with operating cash costs of $391 per ounce and AISC of $643 per ounce.

Over the initial 10-year LoM Fekola is projected to produce an average of 345,000 ounces per annum at operating cash costs of $428 per ounce and AISC of $664 per ounce.

Based on exploration to date, B2Gold's exploration team believes there is significant potential to increase the mine life of Fekola through further exploration drilling.

The $15 million 2017 exploration drill program is ongoing at the property and in the regional area. Drilling is focused on testing the potential extension of Fekola to the north, the mineralisation below the Kiwi zone and the mineralised bedrock zones beneath the Anaconda saprolite resource.

Infill drilling continues to focus on the resources outlined immediately below the Fekola reserve boundary, immediately to the north of the boundary and the near-surface portion of the Kiwi zone.

The resources identified to date could add up to 900,000 ounces to reserves with further infill drilling.

Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, B2Gold has five operating mines and numerous exploration and development projects in various countries including Finland, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Namibia, Mali and Burkina Faso.

www.b2gold.com