The New Liberty Gold Mine

 

The key asset in Avesoro Resources’ portfolio is the New Liberty Gold Mine, which is Liberia’s First and largest commercial gold mine.

 

Construction at New Liberty commenced in April 2014, with first gold poured from the process plant on 31 May 2015 and gold sales commencing in August 2015. Commercial Production was declared at New Liberty on 1 March 2016.

 

New Liberty is an open-pit mining operation and the process plant has an industry standard flowsheet consisting of a two stage crushing, ore stockpiling, milling and gravity and carbon in leach plant with an annual throughput capacity of 1.1 million tonnes of ore.

 

 

The New Liberty Gold Mine has a NI 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”) compliant Proven and Probable Mineral Reserve estimate of 7.4 million tonnes grading 3.03 g/t for 717,000 contained ounces of gold and a NI 43-101 compliant Mineral Resource estimate comprised of 9.6 million tonnes grading 3.2 g/t for 985,000 ounces in the Measured and Indicated category and 6.4 million tonnes grading 3.0 g/t for 620,000 ounces in the Inferred category.

 

Location

 

The New Liberty Gold Mine is located within the Bea-MDA property, in Grand Cape Mount County in the north-western portion of the Republic of Liberia, approximately 100km north-west of the capital, Monrovia.

 

From the capital there is approximately 80km of excellent paved road to the town of Daniels Town and then a small 20km section of laterite road to the Project site. Avesoro Resources has recently upgraded the laterite section of road and installed three new culvert-type bridges to facilitate the transportation of equipment to site. Road access is all year round.

 

Title

 

On July 29, 2009 the Government of Liberia granted a Class A Mining Licence within the Bea Mountain Mineral Development Agreement property. The Bea Mining Licence permits mining within a 478 km2 area which encompasses the New Liberty Gold Mine. The Government of Liberia holds a 10% free carry interest in the Bea Mining Licence.

 

In September 2013 the Government of Liberia ratified a Restated and Amended Mineral Development Agreement for the Bea Mountain Mining Licence covering the 478 km² area which includes the New Liberty Gold Mine along with the Ndablama Project, Silver Hills, Gondoja, the Weaju Project and Leopard Rock exploration targets.

 

2018 Mineral Resource Statement

Updated Mineral Resource Estimate, prepared in accordance with CIM Standards.

Mineral Resource Estimate for the New Liberty Gold Mine, Liberia, as at December 31, 2018

 Measured  Indicated  Measured & Indicated  Inferred  
DepositTonnes (Mt)Au Grade (g/t)Au Metal (koz)Tonnes (Mt)Au Grade (g/t)Au Metal (koz)Tonnes (Mt)Au Grade (g/t)Au Metal (koz)Tonnes (Mt)Au Grade (g/t)Au Metal (koz)
New Liberty Open Pit0.191.8210.94.483.495034.673.42513.901.72
New Liberty Underground0.182.8516.45.93.326306.083.3646.32.73253
Ndablama Open Pit---9.721.885889.721.885880.31.616
Total0.372.3227.320.12.661720.920.472.661748.232.8271

Notes:

  1. Reporting cut-off for New Liberty is 0.80 g/t Au for Open Pit (OP), reported above a surface based on the conceptual shell from a US$1,300 gold price pit optimisation run to support reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. The New Liberty Underground Mining (UG) is reported below the US$1,300 conceptual shell, within conceptual stope volumes based on a US$1,500 gold price optimisation at 1.90 g/t cut-off, run to support assumptions relating to reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction.
  2. Reporting cut-off for Ndablama Open Pit (OP) is 0.85 g/t Au, reported above a surface based on the conceptual shell from a US$1,500 gold price pit optimisation run to support assumptions relating to reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction.
  3. The New Liberty Mineral Resource estimate has been depleted for mining up to December 31, 2018. The effective date of the New Liberty Mineral Resource is December 31, 2018.
  4. The Ndablama Mineral Resource estimate has not been depleted, since there has been no previous mining. The effective date of the Ndablama Mineral Resource is November 24, 2018.
  5. Figures have been rounded to the appropriate level of precision for the reporting of Mineral Resources.
  6. Due to rounding, some columns or rows may not compute exactly as shown.
  7. The Mineral Resources are stated as in situ dry tonnes. All figures are in metric tonnes.
  8. The Mineral Resource has been classified under the guidelines of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by CIM Council, and procedures for classifying the reported Mineral Resources were undertaken within the context of the Canadian Securities Administrators National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101).

 

Updated Mineral Reserve Estimate, prepared in accordance with CIM Standards.

Mineral Reserves Estimate for the New Liberty Gold Mine Liberia, as at December 31, 2018

  Proven  Probable  Total Ore Reserve  
DepositCut-off Grade (g/t)Tonnes (Mt)Au Grade (g/t)Au Metal (koz)Tonnes (Mt)Au Grade (g/t)Au Metal (koz)Tonnes (Mt)Au Grade (g/t)Au Metal (koz)
New Liberty Open Pit0.80.2161.65114.7013.194824.9173.12494
New Liberty Underground20.0843.3694.5753.074524.6593.08461
Ndablama Open Pit10007.2821.714007.2821.71400
Total (Excluding Stocks)0.32.132116.5592.51133416.8592.51355
New Liberty ROM Stockpiles----0.211.47100.211.4710
(LG, MG, HG)
Ndablama ROM Stockpiles----------
(LG,MG,HG)
Total (Including Stocks)0.32.132116.7692.49134417.0692.491365

Notes:

1. The Mineral Reserves have been depleted for mining up to December 31, 2018 and stated as of the same date.

2. Figures have been rounded to the appropriate level of precision for reporting

3. Due to rounding, some columns or rows may not compute exactly as shown

4. The Mineral Reserves are stated as in-situ dry metric tonnes

5. The Mineral Reserves were prepared under the guidelines of the CIM, for reporting under NI 43-101

6. The Mineral Reserve is reported at a US$ 1,300 / oz gold price

7. Modifying factors applied:

New Liberty Open Pit: mining recovery of 95% and waste dilution of 10% at 0g/t Au.

New Liberty Underground: pillar loss 17%, ore loss 4%, waste dilution 9 %

Ndablama Open Pit: mining recovery of 95% and waste dilution of 5% at 0g/t Au

8. Proven Mineral Reserves were derived from Measured Mineral Resources and Probable Mineral Reserves from Indicated Mineral Resources

9. There are no known legal, political, environmental, or other risks that could materially affect the potential Mineral Reserves.

10. The Mineral Reserve has been classified under CIM Standards and reported within the context of NI 43-101.