14
MODERN MINING
May 2015
MINING News
Perseus Mining Limited, listed on the ASX
and TSX, has laid the first stone at its sec-
ond gold mine, the Sissingué gold mine in
Côte d’Ivoire, at a ceremony held on site on
26 April 2015.
Subject to finalising debt funding
arrangements, Perseus plans to commence
construction at Sissingué in the September
quarter of 2015 after a revised Feasibility
Study found the project to be technically
viable, economically robust and strategi-
cally compelling.
MD and CEO Jeff Quarter
maine was on site at Sissingué
with Prime Minister Kablan
Duncan and Minister of
Mining and Industry Dr Kassi
Jean-Claude Brou to partici-
pate in the laying of the first
stone ceremony.
Speaking at the event,
Quatermaine said the project
(originally known as Tengrela)
was first drilled by Perseus’s
exploration team led by geol-
ogists, Steffen Brammer and
Mathieu Sahou, in late 2005.
“Since then Perseus has spent
nearly US$47 million or CFA
21 billion in delineating the
Perseus Mining lays first stone at Sissingué gold project
Perseus Mining MD Jeff Quartermaine (centre) with Côte d’Ivoire’s Prime
Minister Kablan Duncan (right of photo) and Minister of Industry and
Mines Dr Kassi Jean-Claude Brou.
orebody, designing a project and proving
its feasibility, not once but twice, making
it one of a very few exploration projects
which has proved to be successful in Côte
d’Ivoire, demonstrating the enormous
commercial risk associated with this busi-
ness. Now we are in a position where we
can look forward with confidence to build-
ing and operating a mine at Sissingué that
will produce its first gold towards the end
of 2016.”
The project has a measured and indi-
cated mineral resource of 880 000 oz gold
and a proved and probable ore reserve
of 429 000 oz of gold (using a US$1 200
gold price pit design). Production of
385 000 oz of gold over a 5,25 year mine
life is anticipated at an average of approx-
imately 75 000 oz per year for the first
five years. Average all-in sustaining costs
(AISC) are estimated at US$632/oz over
the life of mine. The start-up capital cost
is estimated at US$106 million including
contingency.