PERSEUS Mining, the Australian listed gold miner, said it expected to eventually develop a mine in Sudan despite conflict in the North African nation.
Bloomberg News cited Jeff Quartermaine as saying the firm’s proposed Meyas Sands gold project was “not lost to our company by any stretch of the imagination”.
Perseus took control of Meyas Sand in February 2022 after buying the shares of Toronto-listed Orca Mining for A$230m. The project’s Block 14 is scoped to produce 228,000 ounces of gold a year for the first seven years of a 13.5 life of mine.
In April 2023, however, armed conflict broke out between Sudan’s armed forces and the Rapid Support Force, a militia group in the capital Khartoum. Perseus subsequently shut its Khartoum office and withdrew staff from the Meyas Sand site which is located about 1,000km north of the city.
It subsequently deferred an investment decision on its Meyas Sand “for the foreseeable future”, but Quartermaine today said: “We’re going to develop this one, that’s the plan”.
Perseus is holding out hope that the political backdrop there will stabilize over the longer term, said Bloomberg News. Persian Gulf nations including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are emerging as key diplomatic players in the Horn of Africa region, which has rich but largely untapped mineral resources, it said.
In February, Perseus entered into a cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia to seek out late stage projects in Africa and exploration ventures. The agreement was with Ajlan & Bros Mining & Metals Company (ABM), a mining division of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“By having an influential Saudi company as our partner, that might provide us with a little bit more geopolitical stability, if you will, in the places where we look to explore,” Quartermaine told Bloomberg News.
Perseus is also hoping to conclude the A$258m takeover of Nyanzaga Gold Project in Tanzania which has reported probable ore reserves of some 40.08 million tons grading at 2.02 grams per tons for 2.60 million ounces of gold.
Bloomberg News also said Quartermaine was considering whether to enter the bidding for the Akyem mine in Ghana that Newmont Corp. has put for sale.
