LONDON (Alliance News) - Alecto Minerals PLC Monday said it has received an independent resource estimate for its recently acquired Kerboule gold project in Burkina Faso after studying work conducted by the previous owners of the project, and said it will double the company's total gold resource once verified.
The non-JORC resource estimate, which was completed by Wardell Armstrong International, stands at 6.2 million tonnes at a grade of 1.16 grammes of gold per tonne to produce a total of 230,758 ounces of gold.
In November, the company acquired Gazelle Resources Inc, the owner of the Kerboule project for a total of GBP1.85 million, consisting of an initial consideration of GBP350,000 through the issue of new Alecto shares and a deferred consolidation of USD1.5 million to be paid in either cash or shares, depending on certain conditions, including producing a minimum of 75,000 ounces of gold.
On Monday, the company said the initial GBP350,000 paid for the project and the resource suggests it has paid around USD2.25 to acquire each gold ounce, which it said was "substantially lower than industry-standard exploration cost per ounce."
"The board believes that growth through third party collaboration on our existing exploration portfolio and further merger and acquisition activity will enable the company to position itself as a producer in the medium term, said Chief Executive Mark Jones.
Once the resource has been JORC verified, the company said it expects to double its existing JORC resource estimate of 247,000 ounces of gold which lies at Kossanto East in Mali.
A JORC estimate is a forecast verified by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee, which sets minimum standards for public reporting of minerals exploration results, mineral resources and ore reserves.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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