The Company's mining activities and gold production currently remain unaffected.
There have been no cases of COVID19 infection reported by any of the Company's employees or contractors operating at the
West African's highest priority is the health and safety of its employees, contractors and stakeholders and acknowledges that keeping Sanbrado operational is important for employment, delivering benefits to our host community and the economy of
No impact on mining and gold production at
No confirmed cases of COVID19 at Sanbrado or in the immediate project area
Strict measures imposed at Sanbrado reducing movement of people and increased sanitation to prevent the spread of COVID19
Freight exempt from government lockdown measures, regular shipments of key consumables and fuel being received at site supporting continuous gold production
Gold shipments occurring via charter flights to operating refineries in
WAF's site management team includes key people that worked through the Ebola crisis in
West African Executive Chairman
'I would also like to thank the government authorities in
'Challenging times can bring out the best in people, and that is certainly happening within our team at Sanbrado.''
Operational Update
The Company has made comprehensive operational changes to maintain gold production in response to the developing COVID19 situation since our last market update, and following our maiden gold pour on
Health and Safety
At the time of reporting there have been no cases of COVID19 infection reported by any of the Company's employees or contractors operating at Sanbrado nor by residents of host communities living adjacent to the project area. The Company has been adhering to guidelines set out by the
The Sanbrado site has been locked down with movement of people significantly reduced and only permitted by the direct approval of the Mine Manager. High risk personnel have been identified and demobilised from site. All mine staff and contractors are now being housed on site. All people entering and leaving site are subject to a health assessment, including a temperature check. Social distancing on site is being observed where possible. Additional handwashing and hand sanitiser stations have been set-up around the site and camp areas to improve hygiene.
WAF medical staff will implement an isolation policy and testing for anyone suspected of being COVID19 positive. Site management have prepared an isolation block in camp for any suspected cases and we have qualified medical personnel and medical supplies on site to deal with any COVID19 cases. Staff and contractors on site are also adhering to additional strict health and safety protocols. WAF's site management team includes key people that worked through the Ebola crisis in
Government Response
On
Social distancing measures.
Cities and townships where a positive COVID-19 case has occurred placed under a 14-day quarantine period, with entry into or exit from such locations strictly prohibited.
Two-week extension to currently imposed closure of all schools and other institutions of learning, moving the new re-opening date to
Automatic two-week extension of any currently imposed COVID19-related restrictions that may expire during the state of health emergency.
All restrictions are subject to amendment at short notice. Importantly, cargo and humanitarian transport has been exempted from government restrictions. The Company has been working collaboratively with government authorities in the country arrange shipment of key consumables and fuel to site.
Logistics and Supply Chain
Supply and delivery of key consumables has not been affected by the measures introduced by the
Staff and Contractors
Most personnel working at Sanbrado are Burkinabe (95%) with the remainder being expatriate from a number of different countries. On site staff requirements have been critically reviewed and reduced to essential personnel only. National rosters have been changed to 21 days on 21 days off to reduce movement of people. It is currently not possible to rotate expatriate staff due to the measures imposed by the authorities of
Mining
There has been no impact to mining at Sanbrado to date. Open pit mining continues in M5 and M1 South areas. Preparations are underway to open up the northern extension of M5. This area will provide the opportunity for more operational flexibility providing lower strip ratio, free dig ore supply and better equipment utilisation. Current ROM stocks stand at approximately 313Kt grading 1.3 g/t Au, including low grade ore.
Underground mining has also continued unaffected. The first crosscut through mineralisation was completed last week on the 2120 Level (180mbsl) which defined both the hanging wall and footwall of the M1 South mineralised zone. Face and wall assays have been higher than estimated in the resource model, with higher grades associated with zones where visible gold was observed, these returned grades of +30g/t Au. Strike driving has commenced in the 2120 ODS, with abundant visible gold also present in the first few development faces (driving along strike). Assays from these face samples are pending. Raisebore drilling is complete and shot-creting is also near completion. Overall ground conditions are very good. Surface ventilation fans are scheduled to arrive into port in
Processing
The process plant has been operational since Sunday 8th March and ore processing commenced straight away on double shift. The plant is running over nameplate capacity and processed 126,000t in the first 16 days of operation (including planned shutdowns). The first 23.9 kg of gold was poured on
Summary
The Company's operating environment is both challenging and dynamic. While we have responded well to the challenges presented to the Company so far, our performance cannot be guaranteed over the longer term. We will update the market as new information comes to hand, and we will continue to do our best to keep our people safe and healthy, and keep the
About
The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the original market announcement titled 'West African to produce 300Koz gold in Year 1 at Sanbrado' on
Forward Looking Information
This news release contains 'forward-looking information' within the meaning of applicable Canadian and Australian securities legislation, including information relating to West African's future financial or operating performance that may be deemed 'forward looking'. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that West African expects to occur, are 'forward-looking statements'. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words 'expects', 'does not expect', 'plans', 'anticipates', 'does not anticipate', 'believes', 'intends', 'estimates', 'projects', 'potential', 'scheduled', 'forecast', 'budget' and similar expressions, or that events or conditions 'will', 'would', 'may', 'could', 'should' or 'might' occur. All such forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of the relevant management as of the date such statements are made and are subject to important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which are beyond West African's ability to control or predict. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
In the case of
As well, all of the results of the feasibility study constitute forward-looking information, including estimates of internal rates of return, net present value, future production, estimates of cash cost, assumed long term price for gold, proposed mining plans and methods, mine life estimates, cashflow forecasts, metal recoveries, and estimates of capital and operating costs.
This release also contains references to estimates of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. The estimation of Mineral Resources is inherently uncertain and involves subjective judgments about many relevant factors. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The accuracy of any such estimates is a function of the quantity and quality of available data, and of the assumptions made and judgments used in engineering and geological interpretation (including estimated future production from the project, the anticipated tonnages and grades that will be mined and the estimated level of recovery that will be realized), which may prove to be unreliable and depend, to a certain extent, upon the analysis of drilling results and statistical inferences that may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. Mineral Reserves are also disclosed in this release. Mineral Reserves are those portions of Mineral Resources that have demonstrated economic viability after taking into account all mining factors. Mineral Reserves may, in the future, cease to be a Mineral Reserve if economic viability can no longer be demonstrated because of, among other things, adverse changes in commodity prices, changes in law or regulation or changes to mine plans.
Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information, including, without limitation: exploration hazards and risks; risks related to exploration and development of natural resource properties; uncertainty in West African's ability to obtain funding; gold price fluctuations; recent market events and conditions; risks related to the uncertainty of mineral resource calculations and the inclusion of inferred mineral resources in economic estimation; risks related to governmental regulations; risks related to obtaining necessary licenses and permits; risks related to their business being subject to environmental laws and regulations; risks related to their mineral properties being subject to prior unregistered agreements, transfers, or claims and other defects in title; risks relating to competition from larger companies with greater financial and technical resources; risks relating to the inability to meet financial obligations under agreements to which they are a party; ability to recruit and retain qualified personnel and risks related to their directors and officers becoming associated with other natural resource companies which may give rise to conflicts of interests. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect West African's forward-looking information. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialise, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking information.
West African's forward-looking information is based on the reasonable beliefs, expectations and opinions of their respective management on the date the statements are made and West African does not assume any obligation to update forward looking information if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions change, except as required by law. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. For a complete discussion with respect to West African, please refer to West African's website www.westafricanresources.com, financial statements and other filings all of which are filed on the ASX.
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