AMN - SENEGAL: Barrick commits to Massawa delivery

Barrick Gold Corporation has committed to delivering the Massawa Gold Project in Senegal for the benefit of shareholders and the country. The company's president and chief executive Mark Bristow gave this assurance to Senegalese President Macky Sall.

Massawa and its associated ore body, Sofia, were discovered by Randgold Resources since merged with Barrick, which invested $96.2 million in a feasibility study.

Subsequent to the original feasibility model, an update of reserve pricing to $1,200/ounce resulted in a total probable reserve of 20.9 million tonnes at 3.94 g/t for 2.6 million ounces as at December 31, 2018, with lower strip ratios and higher proportions of low cost ore fed to the plant, relative to the $1,000/ounce reserve.

The feasibility study also defined additional upside within Massawa’s 1,500/ounce resource base including an indicated resource of 23 million tonnes at 4.00 g/t for 3 million ounces and an inferred resource of 6.3 million tonnes at 3.0 g/t for 600,000 ounces, as at December 31, 2018.

Ongoing exploration in 2019 has identified additional opportunities to further add to the project inventory. The project’s environmental impact study has been approved and a mining permit application and plan have been submitted to the government.

A technical report to support the feasibility study for the project has been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101. This was dated July 23, 2019, and has been filed on SEDAR.

Bristow says Massawa offers enormous potential value to Barrick’s shareholders, future investors and its Senegalese stakeholders. It also represents an opportunity to further develop Senegal’s fledgling gold mining industry.

“Barrick is committed to delivering Massawa for the benefit of all stakeholders.  We are now addressing how best to realise the full value of this asset in cooperation with the government,” he said.

Barrick, through Randgold, has invested $141 million in exploration in Senegal since 2002.

In addition to Massawa, Barrick has a large exploration program adjacent to Senegal’s border with Mali and close to its Loulo-Gounkoto complex as part of its Bambadji joint venture.

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