Equal partners
Over the past four years, Normandy has spent US$6.5 million at Ntotoroso to earn a 50% interest. Overall, US$7 million has been expended on exploration, including delineation drilling and an initial feasibility study by Lycopodium, which is based in Perth, Australia.
Results of the study were released in mid-March. They suggest the integration of Ntotoroso into Normandy’s larger, adjacent Yamfo-Sefwi gold project, which is in the latter stages of its own feasibility study.
An enlarged treatment plant is proposed for Yamfo-Sefwi to process, on an annual basis, 5 million tonnes of primary and oxide ore, blended at a ratio of 70-to-30.
Assuming a long-term gold price of US$270 per oz., Ntotoroso has an initial proven and probable reserve, within zones A and E, of 14 million tonnes grading 2.36 grams per tonne, or more than 1 million contained ounces of gold.
Cutoff grades are between 0.69 and 1.04 grams per tonne, whereas the stripping ratio is 2.7-to-1. The study incorporates only two deposits at Ntotoroso. Further mineralized zones will be modelled into the feasibility study in the coming months.
Metallurgical tests indicate that semi-autogenous grinding and ball milling, followed by carbon-in-leach recovery, would result in recoveries of 92% for primary ore and 95% for oxide ore.
The study estimates that Ntotoroso could produce 120,000 oz. gold per year for the first five years at an average cash cost of US$177 per oz.
The total capital required for the enlarged processing plant, which would be built 2 km away at Kenyase, is estimated to be US$115 million. The total capital cost of bringing the Ntotoroso portion of the project into production is estimated at US$33 million, of which US$28 million would be directed toward building the processing plant. A production decision is pending.
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