WWW.RESOURCEGLOBALNETWORK.COM
MINING | Cardinal Resources
CARDINA
Resource Global Network
AL RESOURCES Gold exploration in Ghana’s underexplored Northeast
MINING | Cardinal Resources
Cardinal Resources has roots in West Africa that go back nearly 30 years, at a time when Nelson Mandela finally walked free after 27 years of imprisonment in South Africa. At this critical juncture in recent sub-Saharan African history, Archie Koimtsidis walked into West Africa with a motive to explore for gold across the highly prospective region. The Australian-born explorer and a few other Cardinal forefathers soon decided to refine their focus to Ghana, as it was English speaking and already had a relatively well-established mining sector at the time. “It was easier to go to the known rather than the unknown at that time,� explains Koimtsidis. The team initially focused on the mature gold mining industry in the South of Ghana, which had seen production from a conveyor belt of gold mines since the turn of the 20th century and even earlier in some cases. However, as part of its early regional scale exploration the company did set foot up in the North, discovering some colluvial gold and an outcrop in one particular location. Having seen this exploration potential, Koimtsidis vowed to return to the North at some point in the future.
Resource Global Network
MINING | Cardinal Resources
Resource Global Network
Returning to the North
“There used to be this conception that there
Staying true to his word, Koimtsidis returned
wasn’t any gold up in the North, due to a lack
to the underexplored Birimian terrane of
of understanding of the geology, but we saw
Northeastern Ghana around 15 years ago,
colluvial nuggets close to the surface many
and spent the subsequent years building
years ago, so I begged to differ.”
confidence in the region. Since these early sightings of gold, Cardinal The geology underpinning Ghana’s Northern
has developed its Bolgatanga project,
territory is more complex compared to
contained within the Paleoproterozoic
the Southwest of the country, which has
Granite-Greenstone Belt in Ghana’s upper
resulted in the majority of mineral explorers
Northeast, close to the Burkina Faso border.
congregating in the latter region during the 1990s and 2000s.
In fact, the closest large-scale producing gold operation is the Youga mine – a 2 million
However, armed with more sophisticated
ounces (Moz) resource located in Burkina
exploration tools, Cardinal has built a
Faso and currently owned by Avesoro
commanding land position in the Northeast,
Resources.
and is slowly reaping the benefits.
MINING | Cardinal Resources
ResourceGlobal GlobalNetwork Network Resource Back across the border in Ghana, Cardinal
over 2015 and 2016. However, it was not until
enjoys access to a well-established
this year that real progress began to take
infrastructure network surrounding the
shape.
Bolgatanga project, which includes a sealed national highway, plus national HV hydro grid “We kicked off 2018 with a preliminary power and continuous water supply.
economic assessment (PEA),” says Koimtsidis. “Then a month later we updated the resource
With a mining licence granted for 15 years
and then converted that into a preliminary
renewable, Koimtsidis and co believe that
feasibility study (PFS) in September. So,
Northern Ghana could well be a new frontier within nine months we have published for gold exploration and mine development
a PEA and a PFS with a sizeable
in the entire West Africa region.
reserve in it.”
The Namdini licence
The PFS found that
The Bolgatanga project is comprised of
Namdini contains
four licence areas, with the Namdini mining
4.76Moz of gold from
licence the primary focus for Cardinal.
a maiden probable
Namdini was purchased in 2014 with
ore reserve estimate
exploration drilling commencing at the site
of 129.6Mt at a head
MINING | Cardinal Resources
“We kicked off 2018 with a PEA. Then a month later we updated the resource and then converted that into a PFS in September. Within nine months we have published a PEA and a PFS with a sizeable reserve in it.� Archie Koimtsidis, CEO/managing director
Resource Global Network grade of 1.14 g/t gold, with a 0.5 g/t cut-off grade. Key financial metrics in the study were based on a gold price of US$1,250 per ounce and included a post-tax NPV of $586 million and a post-tax IRR of 38%. All in sustaining costs were calculated at $769 per ounce for the life of mine and 1.8 years was the estimated total project payback time. This large scale open pit operation will eventually produce 3,975,000 ounces of gold (approximately 125 tonnes) over a 14 year mine life, including 907,000 ounces produced from a 2.5 years long starter pit with an AISC of $599. Furthermore, Namdini remains open along strike and down dip, inviting the possibility of an extended mine life. “One of the key strengths of Namdini is the fact that the processing facility is conventional. There is nothing complex in the processing and everything is off the shelf,â€? says Koimtsidis. The PFS outlined a 9.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) process flowsheet with a conventional crush-grind-float-regrind-CIL circuit and a gravity gold circuit designed for free gold. This process will eventually result in the production of gold dorĂŠ bars on-site, a big plus for the company. For Koimtsidis, the PFS is a significant step in the right direction at Namdini, and it gives the company confidence to progress with a definitive feasibility study (DFS), which has commenced and is anticipated for Q3 of 2019.
MINING | Cardinal Resources
District exploration
Ndongo East and received new drill results in
In addition to the DFS, Cardinal will also be
the post-wet season.
focusing on district exploration next year. The firm’s land package at Bolgatanga totals
These assays included intersections of three
close to 900 km² and provides significant
metres at 29.3 g/t gold from 45 metres and
exploration upside from three additional
three metres at 4.1 g/t gold from 122 metres.
licence areas.
Drilling will continue at Ndongo East after the conclusion of the 2018 wet season, with
Around 20 km North of Namdini is the
further results pending. But, one thing for
Ndongo licence area, where six large scale
sure is that Koimtsidis is encouraged by the
targets have been identified and subject to
results so far.
RC drilling, returning several shallow gold intersections.
“The idea with this district exploration is to find some shallow high grade ounces that
In fact, one of these targets yielded a
can be fed into the production facility to give
discovery in July 2018 at Ndongo East,
it some extra NPV,” he says.
after RC drilling returned significant gold mineralisation. Throughout the rest of the
“If our exploration work discovers something
year, Cardinal extended the strike length at
bigger than just shallow pits, than that’s a
Resource Global Network and processing facilities. Cardinal purchased the Subranum project from Newmont Mining and is currently in the process of evaluation ahead of a potential drill programme. “There is a 5-7 km zone that is possibly mineralised within that licence,” says Koimtsidis. “We need to do some more work on that in the new year. “That could end up being a standalone project or something that gets shipped down to the other processing facilities further South or sold to some of those miners already with assets in the South.” Finally, Cardinal will continue to work closely with the communities living in the shadow of its licence areas in Ghana over the course of good problem to have. The plan is to keep
2019 and beyond. As a long-term resident,
investigating these licences for further
Koimtsidis understands the culture of
ounces.”
Ghana, which helps inform the company’s
Possibilities in the South
understanding of what the communities want from an exploration/development company.
Beyond Cardinal’s twin goals of publishing a DFS for Namdini and continuing district
“We work together as a team and they assist
exploration across the Bolgatanga
us as much as we assist them to make sure
project, the company may also decide to
that eventually a mine is built which provides
recommence drilling at its Subranum project
jobs for generations to come. Our situation
in Southern Ghana.
is a little unique. It didn’t start as Cardinal, it started nearly 30 years ago.”
The 69km² licence straddles the Eastern margin of the Sefwi Gold Belt, an area that is densely populated with producing gold mines
ASX:CDV
a j
Published by Anderson Murray Media Ltd
To tell the resource market your story, contact: editorial@resourceglobalnetwork.com
WWW.RESOURCEGLOBALNETWORK.COM