Perseus Mining Limited

Managing Director & CEO Address at Annual General Meeting - Seite 4

We have recently outlined plans to extend the future of both of our operating mines, albeit in different ways.

The current life of our Sissingué operation is relatively short and we have sought to extend this by acquiring Exore Resources Limited, an exploration company that owned 2,000 square kilometres of very prospective land adjacent to Sissingué. Exploration success on this ground would offer us the opportunity to either truck material to Sissingué, or alternatively develop the deposit into a standalone mining operation using infrastructure from Sissingué.  Since completing the acquisition in September, we have been conducting Resource definition drilling at three deposits located on the tenements. Results to date are encouraging and we expect to be able to announce an updated Mineral Resource in the new year and release the results of a feasibility study on developing the Resources, by the end of Q1 in 2021.

At Edikan, we identified potential for underground mining at the Esuajah South deposit, which has a Measured and Indicated Resource of more than 500,000 ounces of gold. We are gradually progressing this work, having received government approvals in the June quarter to move ahead. The approvals allow development of the decline and establishment of ore drives on the first three sub-levels of the orebody, which will allow us to better assess the deposit before proceeding to full scale development. We have been out to tender for underground mining services and are working our way through these offers. If the concept can be proven to be economically viable, this will be an exciting step for us as a company as it would Perseus’s first underground development, although many of our people are individually, very experienced underground miners. Understandably, given our lack of corporate experience as underground miners, we’re moving forward cautiously with the exercise, but we look forward to bringing news of this potential opportunity in the new year. 

As our operations grow, Perseus continues to work very hard on improving our capacity to effectively discharge our Environmental, Social and Governance responsibilities with priority being given to supporting our host communities and governments in both Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, and in the process, ensure that our “social licence” to operate in these countries, remains in good standing. During the past year, Perseus has paid royalties and taxes totaling $83M to the Ghanaian and Ivorian governments, while also offering support to local communities through implementation of education, health and environmental programs. We have a strong local workforce at each of our operating sites, and we aim to provide training and employment opportunities at a range of levels for members of our host communities. To date, we have recorded about 99 per cent of local employment in Ghana and 90 percent local employment in Cote d’Ivoire, including approximately 11% women at both sites.  We are also carefully examining ways of minimizing our carbon footprint, and in this regard, the fact that all of the power that we will use at Yaouré (other than emergency standby power) will be generated from a renewable energy source, namely hydro-electric power, represents a significant step forward in this area.