Reunion Gold advances on Oko West permitting in Guyana

Reunion Gold (TSXV: RGD; US-OTC: RGDFF) says it can now move ahead with permitting at its Oko West project in Guyana, as the government has accepted the terms of scope for its environmental and social impact assessment.

Rick Howes, Reunion CEO, said the approval is a significant milestone in the advancement of the project’s environmental permitting, and the company remains on track with its accelerated development timeline for Oko West. It expects to complete a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) by the end of the second quarter.

In September 2023, Reunion applied for its environmental permit and subsequently worked with Guyana’s environmental agency to establish the terms of scope for the ESIA. As part of this process, the gold explorer conducted meetings with both government agencies and local communities to determine the essential elements to be incorporated into those terms.

An approval of the terms of scope is required for the company to move forward with work on the ESIA, which it anticipates submitting early in the fourth quarter this year.

In addition to the approval of the terms of scope, Reunion said it has completed most of the environmental and social baseline studies that are required for the ESIA. This includes the fieldwork for the second phase of baseline studies, encompassing the physical baseline (groundwater and air quality), the biological baseline (plant, animal and aquatic ecosystems) and additional community meetings.

After it completes the PEA, the company plans to advance work on both the feasibility study and the environmental permits throughout the remainder of 2024 and into the first quarter of 2025, with the expectation of being in a position to consider a construction decision in the second quarter of 2025.

Oko West project

Oko West represents a brand new gold discovery under Reunion’s portfolio focused on South America’s Guiana Shield. It is located south of the historical “Oko” gold district, some 95 km west of Georgetown.

Initial drilling by the company confirmed the presence of gold mineralization that coincides with the northern portion of a 6-km-long gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly. Most of the drilling to date has taken place at the northern 2 km of that anomaly, referred to as the Kairuni zone.

A first resource estimate was completed in June 2023 following extensive drilling at Kairuni. Earlier this year, Reunion updated that resource to 64.6 million indicated tonnes grading 2.05 grams gold per tonne for 4.3 million oz. and 19.2 million inferred tonnes grading 2.59 grams gold for 1.6 million ounces.

The February 2024 resource showed both an increase in size and grades, both open pit and underground, and is expected to be included in the upcoming PEA.

Reunion shares traded down 3.2% this afternoon at 45¢ for a market cap of $548 million. The stock has traded between 32¢ and 59¢ over the past 52 weeks.