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AFRIcA DoWn UnDeR

Roxgold is on track to hit the upper end
of its production guidance for 2020 at the
Yaramoko mine in Burkina Faso

Roxgold marches on

hat was potentially looming as a “lost” the first nine months of 2020 to 98,749oz. positive results. The company has also
Wyear when the pandemic hit in March An EBITDA of $US20.6 million was also made an exciting new discovery at Bous-
is now set to be remembered as a defining recorded for the three-month period, while soura, about 190km south of Yaramoko.
year for Roxgold Inc. cash flow generated from operations to- Dorward said Seguela – acquired from
Following another strong quarter of pro- talled $US28.2 million. Newcrest Mining Ltd in April 2019 with
duction from the Yaramoko gold mine in Roxgold’s cash and dore on hand in- only a 400,000oz inferred resource – was
Burkina Faso – headlined by a record op- creased by $US11.4 million over the tracking ahead of Yaramoko in its develop-
erating margin of $US1,152/oz – Roxgold quarter, even after growth expenditure of ment.
remains firmly on track to hit the upper $US7.9 million. “We think it’s a relatively straightforward
end of its 120,000-130,000oz guidance for Despite a small number of positive project with a team there that has been do-
2020. cases of COVID-19 being recorded at ing this for a while now and has had plenty
The TSX-listed company is also poised Yaramoko during the early stages of the of experience in a country that is keen to
to unveil a feasibility study for its Seguela pandemic, Roxgold has so far managed have that foreign direct investment made,”
gold project in Cote d’Ivoire within the next the health crisis with aplomb with Dorward he said.
six months and officially begin the pathway singling out the likes of Paul Criddle (chief “We recently that we had been awarded
towards development of a second West operating officer) and Paul Weedon (gen- our EIS…and now we’re just waiting for the
African gold mine in the past five years. eral manager exploration) for the way in final phase of our mining permit delibera-
It was certainly not a position Roxgold which the movement of site personnel has tions before that’s awarded. We see that
president John Dorward thought the com- been managed. coming in the next couple months.”
pany would be in nine months ago when Although Yaramako remains isolated With M&A continuing to heat up in West
the realities of the global coronavirus out- from the rest of the world with restricted Africa following Endeavour Mining Corp’s
break started to hit home. access to the mine site still in place, Dor- recent combination with Teranga Gold
“I was in Toronto for PDAC in early ward said he could not overlook the role Corp, the likes of Roxgold and West Afri-
March and starting to look at changing my the people of Burkina Faso had played in can Resources Ltd will be in the spotlight
flights back to avoid going through Hong managing the pandemic. for potential corporate activity.
Kong because that’s when it was really “The people of Burkina are pretty resil- Dorward said while he believed his
starting to kick off,” Melbourne-based Dor- ient and every year they have to deal with company would appeal to a larger suitor,
ward told Paydirt. things like malaria, etc so I think they’ve re- he was adamant any takeover offer would
“If you’d told me back in March/April, ally just got on with life and haven’t let it get have to be in best interests of Roxgold
with all the trouble that was brewing, that over the top of them,” he said. shareholders.
we would have a year where we’re well on “The country has done a pretty good job, “I think we have worked hard to estab-
track in November to meet our guidance they had their borders closed for a relative- lish ourselves as a compelling go-it-alone
and also had a pretty reasonable cost per- ly short period of time but have been able strategy and that’s what our investors have
formance, etc I would have been pretty to prioritise businesses like ours as impor- invested for,” he said.
happy to take it. tant businesses so our people could move “For us to not follow that path and to
“It’s been an important year for us and to around and our supply chain stayed open. throw our lot in with someone else, it would
not have had to put that on hold has been So, kudos to the Government of Burkina have to be a compelling offer. We would
really, really pleasing. It could have easily Faso in being able to do that in a sensible assess that on its merits, but we’re very
been a bit of a lost year and I’m sure for fashion and maintain a sensible balance happy working on what we’ve got. We’ve
a lot of people and a lot of companies it between economic activity and safety of got an open mind to other ideas, but it
certainly will be.” their population.” would have to be pretty attractive to get
Yaramoko churned out 33,557oz at an Roxgold has not just excelled on the pro- off the path that we’ve carved out for our-
average grade of 7.7 g/t for the September duction front with exploration at both Yar- selves.”
quarter, lifting Roxgold’s total output over amoko and Seguela continuing to deliver
– Michael Washbourne

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