Turaco Gold Completes Pre-Feasibility Study for Afema Gold Project

Turaco Gold (ASX: TCG) has confirmed strong development economics for its Afema gold project in south-east Côte d’Ivoire after completing a pre-feasibility study (PFS) for a large-scale open pit mining operation.

The study supports average life-of-mine production of approximately 200,000 ounces of gold per annum over an initial 10.3-year mine life.

Afema is forecast to produce 230,000oz of gold in its first year, allowing for a six-month processing ramp-up, and average approximately 215,000oz per annum during the first seven years.

The study has also supported a maiden JORC probable ore reserve of 55.1 million tonnes at 1.1 grams per tonne gold for 1.91 million ounces.

Compelling Project Economics

The PFS is based on a nominal 6Mtpa processing rate, comprising a 4Mtpa carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit and a 2Mtpa flotation / ultrafine grind / CIL circuit.

Turaco expects the project to process 65.1Mt at 1.1g/t gold for 2.3Moz of contained gold, generating recovered gold production of 2.0Moz at average recoveries of 87% to 88%.

The study estimates total development capital costs of US$410 million, including mining establishment costs and a US$24m contingency.

Mining is scheduled to start six months before first production to build a run-of-mine stockpile at an additional cost of US$32m.

The life-of-mine schedule was calculated using a conservative gold price of US$2,000 per ounce and delivered a cash operating cost of US$1,268/oz and all-in sustaining cost of US$1,508/oz.

Strong Valuation Range

At a gold price of US$3,000/oz, Afema generates a post-tax net present value using a 5% discount rate of US$1.486 billion and a post-tax internal rate of return of 60%.

The post-tax net present value increases to US$2.102b at US$3,500/oz and US$2.717b at US$4,000/oz, while payback falls from 17 months at US$3,000/oz to 13 months at US$3,500/oz and 10 months at US$4,000/oz.

Turaco has updated the Afema mineral resource estimate (MRE) to 116.7Mt at 1.2g/t gold for 4.65Moz after incorporating recently completed infill drilling at Asupiri and a small historical heap leach stockpile, with the updated Asupiri MRE 33.8Mt at 1.2g/t gold for 1.28Moz, including a 27% increase in Indicated resources to 840,000oz.

Infill drilling continues to upgrade Inferred resources to Indicated with negligible loss of tonnes or grade, confirming the high-confidence nature of the MRE models.

The study excludes mineralisation at Toilesso, Niamienlessa, and Baffia, all located within 10km of the proposed plant site, while all MRE deposits remain open at depth and along strike.

Definitive Study Planned

Turaco will now move immediately to update Afema to definitive study level, including detailed design and engineering work to expedite development, with the company targeting delivery of a definitive study in the second quarter of calendar 2027 and first gold production in 2029.

Managing director Justin Tremain said the study marked a major step in Turaco’s development of Afema since acquiring the project a little more than two years ago.

“The study demonstrates the Afema project to be a plus 200,000oz per annum gold development in Côte d’Ivoire with total gold production in excess of 2Moz over more than 10 years, with exceptional economics for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

“There are very few gold development projects in West Africa of this scale [and], given recent resource growth, it is very easy to see Afema increasing in scale and mine life.”

Turaco is fully funded to complete the next phase of work, with A$60m in cash at 31 March 2026 and three to five rigs continuing exploration drilling.