Avesoro sees decent gold production from New Liberty

West Africa-focussed gold producer Avesoro Resources issued its preliminary production results for the quarter ended 31 March on Thursday, from its New Liberty Gold Mine in Liberia and the Youga Gold Mine in Burkina Faso.

The AIM-traded firm said consolidated gold production totalled 45,098 ounces for the period, with New Liberty gold production rising 5% over the prior quarter to 25,855 ounces, while Youga gold production fell 6% quarter-on-quarter to 19,243 ounces.

Total material movement was 13,201kt, which was a 19% increase on the fourth quarter of 2018, including 609kt of ore and 12,592kt of waste material.

“The quarter saw both the mined grade and plant feed grades increasing quarter-on-quarter at both New Liberty and Youga and with New Liberty increasing gold production levels,” said Avesoro Resources chief executive officer Serhan Umurhan.

“However, performance at both mines was slightly behind our targeted production levels for the quarter with the shortfall in gold production versus our target predominantly due to lower plant throughput at both operations.

“At New Liberty, this shortfall was a consequence of a lack of available ore faces within the pit during the early part of the quarter.”

Umurhan said the increased focus on waste stripping throughout the period had now resolved this issue, with the board expecting to maintain availability of ore for the remainder of the year.

At Youga, he said additional lower grade ore blocks were mined which - together with unexpected ore dilution - impacted the average grade of mined ore at the Gassore pit.

“In response to this, smaller excavators are now being used to reduce dilution whilst the haulage capacity of our existing haul trucks has been increased to ensure required ore volumes are transported to the ROM pad.

“Our annual group guidance of 210,000 to 230,000 ounces is maintained.

“We expect Youga to contribute between 90,000 and 100,000 ounces, with the difference being compensated for by New Liberty, where the company is in advanced discussions with an open-pit mining contractor.”

If those discussions were to be concluded successfully, Umurhan said the engagement of the contractor was expected to reduce Avesoro’s mining costs below the “already very attractive” internal cost per tonne that the firm had achieved, as well as provide access to additional mining equipment to increase material movement and outperform the original production guidance at the mine.

“I now look forward to updating the market on the updated NI 43-101 mineral resource and mineral reserve update for Youga, which we intend to complete during the second quarter of 2019.”