SEMAFO is a Canadian-based mining company with gold production and exploration activities in West Africa. It currently operates three gold mines. These are Mana Mine at Burkina Faso, Samira Hill Mine in Niger, and Kiniero Mine at Guinea.
SEMAFO has recently reported that it has updated its mineral reserves for its Mana Mine in Burkina Faso to total 1.7 million ounces. This was after the Pre-Feasibility Study or PFS of the Wona underground deposit was revised after open pit reserves were considered.
SEMAFO's Mana Mine is located approximately 200 kilometres west of Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso. It is our newest mine, where operations commenced in April 2008. Gold is currently mined from two open pits, Wona and Nyaf. Image Credit: SEMAFO
This has resulted in a 125% increase in reserves for SEMAFO, which would yield an additional 961,000 ounces at the Mana Mine. The PFS was conducted using SEMAFO's December 2009 resources model and is exclusive of all inferred resources and exploration work conducted to date in 2010.
Highlights of the pre-feasibility study (using a $950/oz base gold price) include:
- Total proven and probable mineral reserves of 9.24 million tonnes at 2.9 g/t Au representing approximately 850,000 ounces
- Average annual production from the underground of 76,500 ounces at a cash operating cost of $554 per ounce
- Underground mine life of more than nine years at 3,000 tpd
- Mining methods: long hole transverse and longitudinal retreat
- Initial capital expenditure of $93 million and ongoing capital expenditure of $24.4 million
- Pre-tax operating cash flow of $273 million with a 23% internal rate of return
- 3.5-year payback period