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(Alliance News) -Â Centamin PLC on Thursday revealed the results from its review of its West African exploration portfolio, with the firm mulling development options for the Batie West project.
Centamin currently produces only from the Sukari gold mine in the Egyptian desert.
It said Thursday it has approved the commencement of a pre-feasibility study at Doropo, believing the project in the northeast of Ivory Coast shows "strong development potential". It has green lit USD14 million to spend on advancing the project to pre-feasibility study by mid-2022.
The ABC project, in northwest Ivory Coast and sitting 460 kilometres west of Doropo, continues to deliver strong priority greenfield target generation along the 60 kilometre Lolosso gold corridor, it said. The board has approved a further USD3 million exploration programme for the Kona and FarakoNafana permits for the period to June 2022.
However, while the preliminary economic assessment for Batie West delivered positive results, the project does not currently meet Centamin's investment criteria. It is assessing third-party development options.
Batie West is in the southwest of Burkina Faso, within the Southern Noumbiel Province, bordering Ghana and Ivory Coast.
"Building a strong active growth pipeline is central to our strategy, while maintaining our capital allocation discipline. Today's announcement of a positive preliminary economic study at Doropo and the exploration potential at the earlier stage ABC, demonstrate the quality and potential of our portfolio," said Chief Executive Martin Horgan.
"The Batie West project has potential to deliver a profitable mine, but not one that would currently meet our strict investment criteria. We are now initiating a review of development options for this asset."
Shares in Centamin were down 4.0% at 116.30 pence in London on Thursday.
By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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