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Yaramoko

Africa Map

The Yaramoko Mine Complex

The Yaramoko Mine Complex is situated in the Houndé greenstone belt region in the Province of Balé in southwestern Burkina Faso. The property is located approximately 200 kilometres southwest from the capital city of Ouagadougou.

The Yaramoko Mine Complex consists of two high-grade underground gold mines: the 55 Zone and Bagassi South. 

Yaramoko is an operating 1,100 tonne-per-day underground operation which utilizes longhole stoping with cemented rock fill as its primary mining method.  

As of December 31, 2018, Yaramoko has Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves of 2.4 million tonnes, grading 8.24 grams of gold per tonne for a total of 658,000 ounces of gold.

55 Zone

The 55 Zone went from its initial discovery in 2011 to production in five years and was completed early and under-budget. Production began in May 2016 and Commercial Production was declared in October 2016.

The 55 Zone has proven and probable ore reserves to a depth of 980 metres. The Company anticipates developing a dedicated drilling platform approximately 650 metres below surface to target extensions to the existing orebody at depth.

Bagassi South

Bagassi South is the second high-grade underground gold mine on the Yaramoko property and consists of two gold deposits: QV1 Zone and QV’ (QV Prime) Zone.

The QV1 Zone is the main deposit of the Bagassi South project and is geologically similar to the 55 Zone. 

Located approximately 1.8 kilometres south of the 55 Zone, Bagassi South mine operations benefit from shared infrastructure, management and support services already in place for the 55 Zone.

Yaromoko

Yaramoko Geology and Mineralization

The north-northeast-trending Boni shear zone divides the Yaramoko Gold Project between the predominantly Houndé volcanic and volcaniclastic rock to the west and the Diébougou granitoid domain composed predominantly of granitic rock with minor volcanic rock to the east. The main lithological units are mafic volcanic rocks, felsic intrusions, and late dolerite dikes. This region is considered prospective for orogenic gold deposits, which typically exhibit a strong relationship with regional arrays of major shear zones.

The largest granitic intrusion found on the Yaramoko concession is host to both the 55 Zone and Bagassi South Zone gold deposits. Both deposits are set on the eastern margin of the intrusive in the footwall of the Yaramoko shear along conjugated dextral faults located in extensional position to the regional shear zone. The bulk of the gold mineralization occurs in dilatational segments of the shear zones where quartz veins are thicker and exhibit greater continuity.

The Bagassi South Zone deposit is located 1.8 kilometres south of 55 Zone and the surface definition of the veins can be traced over a strike length of some 800 metres and dips to the northeast. Gold typically occurs as coarse free grain in quartz and is associated with pyrite.

Regional Exploration

The Yaramoko property consists of a large regional land package of approximately 230 km2, located on the Hounde Belt. The majority of known anomalies and deposits are located along the Boni Shear regional break and the second order Yaramoko Shear. The high grade deposits of 55 Zone and Bagassi South are located in the footwall of the Yaramoko Shear along East-West extensional zones, which are unique extensional style high grade deposits.

The majority of the Yaramoko concession is largely unexplored. Regional Drilling programs are currently in place with a focus on with drilling along the Boni Shear, Haho, Kaho and Houko.

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso is a landlocked nation, located in West Africa. It covers an area of roughly 274,000 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 20 million people. The country has a stable political setting with a pro-mining and foreign investment stance.

Burkina Faso has emerged as one of Africa’s leading gold producing countries and was the fourth largest producer in 2017. 11 gold mines began production in Burkina Faso between 2007 and 2018.

The country has excellent geological potential. The Greenstone Belts that host all of the major deposits in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire continue northward into Burkina Faso. Gold is mainly mined from Proterozoic rocks and alluvial/eluvial deposits. This geological setting is analogous to the prolific Precambrian gold belts of eastern Canada and other parts of the world; however, West Africa has received only a small fraction of the exploration coverage that those belts have experienced. Burkina Faso has undergone less than 15 years of modern mineral exploration, remaining under explored in comparison to neighbouring Ghana and Mali; both of which host world class gold mines in the same belts of Birimian rocks.