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AFRICA

Turaco

reins in

the spending

by Yvette Ogilvie

ith equity markets recoiling from gold and West Africa,
WTuraco Gold Ltd is winding back its exploration spending.
“We were very aggressive in the first six months of 2022 and
did a lot of drilling, but now with the market and the share price,
we’ll be a little bit more prudent with our expenditure,” Turaco
managing director Justin Tremain told GMJ. Auger and RC drilling have restarted following the wet season
“I’m sure the appetite for gold will return at some point and we
will make sure we are well positioned for that.” “It’s one of the best places in the world to be exploring plus-1 moz
At the end of the recent September quarter, Turaco had available discoveries and it’s very cost-effective exploration,” he said.
funding of just under $5.5 million, with Tremain noting the “There’s been plenty of success stories to come out of West
company did not plan to undertake a capital raise in the next year. Africa, typically more to the north in Burkina Faso over the last 20
Considering its conservative approach, Turaco will direct most years but that has become a very challenging place to operate.
of its exploration activities to the Eburnea project in Côte d’Ivoire, “All of those success stories are very large companies, and they
as the company gears up to release a maiden resource for the are looking to continue to grow, and they’ve got their eyes on Côte
Satama discovery. d’Ivoire.
“In the last 6-9 months, we have done about 20,000m of drilling “The Government is very supportive of exploration and mining
over a gold-in-soil anomaly and made a significant discovery and that’s why there have been 4-5 mines developed over
there [Satama], drilling continuous gold mineralisation from the last five years and there is another 2-3 under feasibility or
surface across about 2km of strike,” Tremain said. development at the moment.”
Following the end of the wet season in October, Turaco However, Tremain acknowledged some limitations in Cote
restarted exploration activities at the project, including auger d’Ivoire relating to the ongoing conflict in neighbouring Burkina
and RC drilling. Tremain hopes the auger drilling, conducted Faso.
over geophysical targets parallel to the area drilled at Satama,
During the September quarter, no field exploration activities were
will be able to demonstrate the ability to grow the resource.
undertaken at the Ferke project due to its proximity to the Burkina
The rest of its projects will take a back seat in the meantime, Faso border and the Comoé National Park.
except for Tongan North, which Turaco is planning to focus on in
“Probably the biggest challenge is trying to differentiate Côte
2023 following up on the recent auger results of up to 27 g/t gold.
d’Ivoire from the general West Africa perceived risk, which is
The company has a total of four projects, all in Côte d’Ivoire, around the government stability in the north and not the south,
where Tremain is confident of finding more gold. where Côte d’Ivoire is,” Tremain said.
While the Tongan North project may also lie near the border to
Burkina Faso, Tremain said the company was comfortable to
exploring there.
“I guess it’s a little bit different in that the area, [Tongan North] is
all under crop so it’s all open ground and it’s not as isolated as the
Ferke project,” he said.
Another challenge Tremain noted of operating within Cote d’Ivoire
was attracting skilled labour.
“It’s a lot more challenging to get people to travel to Cote d’Ivoire
but we are fortunate enough that we have got a team that has To present, exhibit or attend as a delegate, please contact Angelique Julien
Turaco will direct most of its exploration efforts towards the been together for a number of years now,” he said. on (+61) 8 9321 0355 or email angelique@paydirt.com.au
Eburnea project

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