Doropo Gold Project, Côte d’Ivoire

The Doropo Gold Project is an open pit gold mine owned 100% by Centamin. The mine is located in the Bounkani Region in northeastern Côte d’Ivoire.

The license holding of the project includes 13 gold deposits: Enioda, Hinda, Nare, Kilosegui, Attire, Vako, Nokpa, Chegue Main, Chegue South, Tchouahinin, Kekeda, Han, and Souwa.

Centamin published a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) of the project in August 2023. The mine received regulatory approval of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and receipt of the environmental permit in June 2024.

The owner announced the results of a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) of the project in July 2024.

As per the DFS, the project has a Life of Mine (LOM) of 10 years, an average annual 167koz gold production over the LOM, and an average 207koz gold production in the first five years.

The total construction capital expenditure (CAPEX) of the project will be $373m representing a less than 7% increase from the PFS.

Currently, Centamin is moving towards filing the mining lease application for the project development.

Doropo Gold Project Location

The Doropo Gold Project is located 480km north of Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire’s economic capital) and 50km north of the Bouna City (capital of the Bounkani region).

The Doropo prefecture is 76km from Bouna, 240km from Bondoukou, and 645km from Abidjan.

The permits block (seven exploration permits) is situated between the border with Comoe National Park and Burkina Faso.

The permits cover approximately 1,847km² area. Of the 13 gold deposits, approximately 85% are located within a 7km radius known as the Main Resource Cluster while Vako and Kilosegui deposits within an approximate 15km and 30km radius.

The project site is accessible by the A1 Road, a national sealed road, crossing through the centre of the project site. The road connects Abidjan and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso’s capital).

A network of small dirt and/or sandy roads provide access to the project site even in the rainy season.

Doropo Gold Project Exploration History

The exploration history of the project started with Ampella Mining Côte d’Ivoire, Ivoirian subsidiary of Ampella Mining, filing an application for the Varale, Doropo Quest, and Kalamon deposits in 2010.

The company was granted the permits in June 2013. This commenced the first systematic mineral exploration of the area.

Ampella Mining was acquired by Centamin in March 2014 commencing the exploration activities on the project in mid-2014.

Ampella was granted another seven permits between 2015 and 2018 which included Danoa, Gogo, Bouna, Bouna Nord and the three Tehini.

In August 2019, the Doropo Quest permit was relinquished owing to lack of positive soils and rock chip sample results.

The permits of Bouna Nord and Bouna were also relinquished in May 2017 and August 2019 due to the same reason.

Dorado Geology and Mineralisation

The Dorado Gold Project is situated geologically within the Tonalite-Trondhjemite-Granodiorite domain.

On the eastern side, the project is bounded by the Boromo-Batie greenstone belt, Burkina Faso and on the west by the Tehini-Hounde greenstone belt.

The project’s geology consists of fairly homogeneous to coarse-grained granodiorite. Regional post-mineralisation diorite dykes intersect many deposits of the project.

The project’s mineralisation consists of gold associated with discrete structurally controlled zones of silica-sericite alteration.

The mineralisation is found along and within the narrow shear zone margins of 5-10m to 20-25m wide. The mineralised zones form clear tabular bodies and outside these zones, the granodiorite is undeformed.

Doropo Mineral Resource Estimate

The measured mineral resource estimate (including reserves) of the Doropo Gold Project is 1.51 million tonnes (Mt) containing 0.08Moz gold at a grading of 1.60g/t.

The indicated mineral resource estimate (including reserves) of the mine is 75.34Mt containing 3.03Moz gold at a grading of 1.25g/t.

The total mineral resources (measured + indicated) including reserves of the project are 76.85Mt containing 3.11Moz gold at a grading of 1.26g/t.

The inferred mineral resource estimate of the 7.37Mt containing 0.3Moz gold at a grading of 1.23g/t.

Doropo Mineral Reserves

The proven mineral reserves of the Doropo Gold Project are 1.26Mt containing 0.07Moz gold at a grading of 1.73g/t.

The probable mineral reserves of the mine are 36.97Mt containing 1.81Moz gold at a grading of 1.52g/t.

The total (proven + probable) mineral reserves of the project are 38.22Mt containing 1.88Moz gold at a grading of 1.53g/t.

Doropo Mining and Ore Processing Methods

The Doropo Gold Project will be mined using a conventional drill, blast, load, and haul open pit method through contract mining.

Through contract mining, a maximum of 28 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of material will be mined and delivery of up to 4.9Mtpa of ore will be made to the stockpiles and Run of Mine (POM) per year.

The plan is to mine 38Mt of ore to feed the processing plant with 188Mt of waste over the LOM.

The ores will be processed in a processing plant. The mill will have a capacity of 5.4Mtpa (oxide/transition ore) and 4Mtpa (fresh ore).

The ores will undergo primary crushing and grinding by a Semi-Autogenous Grinding (SAG) mill and ball mill in a closed circuit.

The fresh ores will be reduced to a target grind size (P₈₀) of 75 microns (µm) whereas oxide and transition ores will be reduced to 106µm.

Any native/free gold will be recovered by a gravity circuit before entering the Carbon-In-Leach (CIL) circuit.

An elution circuit will recover the gold in the loaded carbon by electrowinning and gold smelting to produce doré averaging 89% gold recovery over the LOM.

Doropo Gold Project Infrastructure

The infrastructure of the Doropo Gold Project will include a haul access road, a Tailing Storage Facility (TSF), a water storage/harvest dam, and an airstrip.

The TSF will be a no discharge facility with a capacity of 29 million cubic metres (Mm³) or 41Mt of dry tails covering approximately 287 hectares (ha).

Doropo Power Infrastructure

The project will use the 90kV National Grid of Côte d’Ivoire as a power source. The grid is owned by La Société des Energies de Côte d’Ivoire (CI-ENERGIES).

The grid will be connected to the project via the existing Bouna substation located approximately 55km southeast of the project.

The Bouna substation receives power via a 90kV transmission line from the 225/90kV Bondoukou substation located further south of the Bouna substation.

A standby power supply will be supplied by diesel generators located onsite. Currently, Centamin is investigating a solar power option to lessen grid reliability and carbon emissions.

Doropo Gold Project Contractors

A consortium of Cube Consulting, Independent Metallurgical Operations, Orelogy Consulting, Knight Piésold, and GR Engineering Services conducted the DFS of the project.

SRK Consulting, ECG Consulting, and TetraTech (Piteau Associates) supported in conducting the DFS.

Centamin, Earth Systems, and H&B Consulting prepared the ESIA of the mine.

The PFS of the project was prepared by Centamin and Lycopodium Minerals with the support of Cube Consulting, Orelogy Consulting, and Knight Piésold.