West African Resources Limited ('West African' or the 'Company', ASX: WAF) is pleased to announce it has poured first gold at its Sanbrado Gold Project, Burkina Faso, on Wednesday 18 th of March, 2020.

Highlights

Gold bars weighing 23.9 kg (768 troy oz) poured in the first smelt on site

75,000t ore at 1.5 g/t Au has been processed since start up

Process plant has exceeded nameplate capacity for the past seven days of production

All critical spares and reagents are on site and no process interruptions are forecast

Processing plant and power station fully operational

Open-pit ore stockpiles building with 250,000t at 1.5 g/t Au on the ROM pad

First underground development ore mined and stockpiled, ready to process

Visible gold exposed outside of the mine plan in underground development drive

More than 3,000,000 hours worked LTI free

West African Executive Chairman Richard Hyde commented: 'This is a major milestone for West African Resources and marks the beginning of a new phase in the WAF story. To successfully transition from an exploration company to a gold producer is without doubt a great achievement for all involved. I would like to thank WAF's owners' team and all consultants, contractors and other stakeholders for their hard work and support over the last four years to bring Sanbrado from discovery into production.'

Project Update

Construction and Commissioning Activities

On Wednesday the 18th of March, 2020 the Sanbrado project poured its maiden gold bars weighing 23.9 kg (768 troy oz). Construction and commissioning activities are complete in all areas and the project has recently passed 3,000,000 hours worked LTI free. The process plant mill throughput is already meeting nameplate capacity. At the time of reporting 75,000t at 1.5 g/t Au has been processed through the Sanbrado plant, with indicative metallurgical recoveries over 90%. The Company would like to thank WAF's Owners Team and key contractors and consultants; ECG, Outotec, Lycopodium, Knight Piesold, Enikon, EERIE BF, PSS, Kanazoe and Sogea Satom for their hard work and dedication.

Open Pit Mining

Open-pit mining has ramped up mining activities and continues at both the M5 and M1 South pits, with double day/night shifts ongoing. Currently there are 250,000 tonnes of oxide ore on the ROM pad at an average grade of 1.5 g/t gold, which is reconciling well with grade control models.

Underground Mining

Underground development continues to progress to schedule. The first development crosscut on the 2120 level (300m below surface) has intercepted visible gold north of the mine plan. Some 1,200t of underground ore has been mined and stockpiled ready for processing. Grade control drilling of the first panel on the 2120 level has intercept visible gold, assays are pending.

COVID 19 Emergency Response Plan and Operational Readiness

Since early February the Company has been following Western Australia Health Department guidelines for the Covid 19 global pandemic and has been updating staff and contractors regularly as the situation unfolds. At the time of reporting no staff or contractors have tested positive to Covid 19 nor has there been a suspected case.

WAF executive and site management have recently undertaken a Covid 19 risk assessment workshop on site at Sanbrado. WAF's site management team includes key people that worked through the Ebola crisis in Guinea in 2014-15. WAF medical staff are monitoring the temperature of all people entering site and will implement a self-isolation policy for anyone suspected of being Covid 19 positive. Site management have prepared an isolation block in camp for any suspected cases and have qualified medical personnel and sufficient supplies to deal with a Covid 19 situation.

From an operational perspective, all key reagents and consumables are on site for continuous gold production for the next three to six months. The newly commissioned fuel farm is currently receiving regular fuel deliveries from fuel supplier Oryx Burkina Faso and is expected to be filled to capacity within the next week.

About West African Resources

West African Resources Limited (ASX: WAF) announced the results of its updated Feasibility Study for the Sanbrado Gold Project in Burkina Faso in an announcement titled 'West African to produce 300Koz gold in Year 1 at Sanbrado' on 16 April 2019. The study envisages an initial 10-year mine life, including 6.5 years of underground mining, with Probable Reserves to 1.7 million ounces (21.6Mt at 2.4g/t gold). The project will have average annual production over the first 5 years of mine life of 217,000 ounces gold and a 14-month post-tax pay back on US$186 million pre-production capital costs. Project economics are robust, with AISC of < US$600/oz over first 5 years and US$650 over life of mine. Year 1 production is anticipated to be over 300,000oz gold from underground and open pit ores, at All-In Sustaining Costs of less than US$500/oz. West African is fully funded with construction underway and first gold pour scheduled in early Q2 2020.

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 16 April 2019 and that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimates of forecast financial information derived from the production targets, and the resource estimate, as outlined in that announcement, continue to apply and have not materially changed.

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 West African Resources Ltd, these facts include their anticipated operations in future periods, the expected enhancement to project economics following optimisation studies, planned exploration and development of its properties including project development commencing in Q4 2018 with an 18 month construction schedule, and plans related to its business and other matters that may occur in the future, including the availability of future funding for the development of the project. This information relates to analyses and other information that is based on expectations of future performance and planned work programs. Statements concerning mineral resource and ore reserve estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking information to the extent that they involve estimates of the mineralisation that will be encountered if a mineral property is developed.

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.

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.

Contact:

Tel: +61 8 9481 7344

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