Orezone Gold Corporation announce its Q1-2025 gold production results and a construction update for the Stage I hard rock expansion at its Bomboré Gold Mine. All dollar amounts are in USD unless otherwise indicated and abbreviation "M" means million. During the quarter, the Company achieved a major milestone of 20 million person-hours worked without a LTI.
This industry leading safety record speaks to the exceptional effort on injury prevention by the entire Bomboré team which has instilled a pervasive, safety first, culture onsite. Throughout the quarter, the Company made material progress advancing the Stage I hard rock expansion, with concrete foundations for the dump pocket and SAG mill significantly advanced, and CIL tank installation now underway. The Stage I hard rock expansion remains ahead of schedule and on budget, with first gold and mill commissioning on track for Q4-2025.
Completion of the Stage I expansion will mark a material transformation in the Bomboré operation, with gold production forecasted to increase by approximately 45% from current levels to 170,000-185,000 ounces in 2026. Further positioning the Company for a significant transformation, Orezone announced during the quarter that: (1) it is advancing a secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange ("ASX"), with a target listing in mid-2025, and (2) is evaluating plans to accelerate the Stage II hard rock expansion to an overall 5.0 million tonnes per annum ("Mtpa") two years ahead of schedule (see news release dated February 23, 2025). While subject to final Board approval, the Stage II expansion is forecasted to increase the overall gold production profile at Bomboré to 220,000-250,000 ounces per year.
also expect to release drill results from the P17S and P17 area in the coming weeks as target the high-grade extensions of these highly prospective zones." The 2.5Mtpa Stage I hard rock expansion is designed to process higher-grade hard rock ore. The expansion is independent of the adjacent 6.0Mtpa oxide plant but will utilize a number of shared services and infrastructure including the tailings storage facility, warehouses, administration complex, and technical services. The concentrated scope of the brownfield expansion significantly reduces schedule and budget risk in comparison to a new build, with the ramp-up to benefit from the well-established mining, processing, and maintenance teams onsite.
This Stage I expansion is scheduled for commissioning in Q4-2025 and as with the oxide plant, which had a nameplate capacity of 5.2Mtpa, the Company views the potential to achieve materially higher throughput rates than that of the 2.5Mtpa Stage I design. With the strong price of gold, the Company continues to evaluate the timing of the Stage II hard rock expansion, which will increase the nameplate hard rock throughput to 5.0Mtpa, yielding a forecasted overall production profile of 225,000-250,000 ounces per year. With a 5.0Mtpa jaw crusher currently being installed in Stage I, the Stage II expansion will primarily consist of a ball mill, pebble crusher, thickener, four additional CIL tanks and a gold room upgrade.
Consideration in the Stage I design and layout has been made to easily accommodate these Stage II additions.
