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Gold/Mining/Energy : Precious and Base Metal Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E. Charters who wrote (23529)	11/4/2003 11:33:54 AM
From: Salt'n'Peppa	Respond to of 39344

Excellent article on EET David Pescod talking gold & diamonds at the Mayfield Inn in Edmonton this evening. I'll be there. S&P ------------------------------ >Etruscan's West African gold rush By: Daniel Thöle Posted: 2003/11/03 Mon 15:06 ZE2 \| © Mineweb 1997-2003 JOHANNESBURG – Toronto-listed Etruscan Resources is making the transition from explorer to producer, expanding its presence in the red-hot West African gold fields as its projects in Niger and Burkina Faso show real promise. Etruscan’s shares have soared from C$0.75 to C$2.24 this year, part of the boom in Canadian and Australian listed junior miners with any exposure to the highly prospective West African gold fields. Etruscan will produce the first gold from its 2 million reserve ounce Samira Hill mine in Niger early next year, and already has its eyes on the Youga gold deposits in Burkina Faso which it bought from Ashanti and Echo Bay last month. Kevin McNeill, the Managing Director of Etruscan Diamonds said the group would focus on developing Youga deposits before concentrating on its other exploration ventures in Côte d’Ivoire and Mali. Etruscan occupies a unique niche for investors, exploring for gold in West Africa and mining diamonds in South Africa. McNeill said the group saw “Morila-like” potential in Youga, and the group’s funders must have shared the belief that the project could show some of the promise that the mine AngloGold and Randgold own in Mali has. McNeill said the upswing in interest around West African gold had meant that the group had few problems raising the C$11 million in capital needed to develop Youga. “We wrapped up the capital raising in a week,” McNeill said. McNeill said Etruscan’s team was highly encouraged by the test results from Youga, and the group now believes the deposit may be of an even higher quality than Ashanti’s team had indicated. Youga is currently at pre-feasibility stage, and a 1-million ounce resource has been identified on the property. Drilling has yielded grades of between 2 and 15.96 grams per ton, and Etruscan sees potential for the development of a low cost, open pit mine partly thanks to the simplicity of the Youga orebody. Etruscan is breaking new ground with Samira Hill, Niger’s first commercial gold mine. McNeill said the group was excited about the potential for expansion the project held, as Etruscan has identified a gold bearing horizon 50 kilometres long, stretching into neighbouring Burkina Faso. The project is made up of two deposits – Samira Hill itself and the adjacent Libiri deposit. McNeill said Samira Hill would begin production from an open pit, with about 715 000oz mined in that phase, with the remainder of the 2-million ounce resource mined underground. Samira Hill has yielded a grade of 2.2 grams per ton, at a cash cost of $184/oz. “The metallurgy is hard, making the ore easy to process,” McNeill said. Financing arrangements for the 100,000oz a year mine forced its owners to hedge 60 percent of the mine’s production at $360/oz, but McNeill said the hedge is flexible, giving the group upside as high as $390/oz. Etruscan and Canadian listed Semafo each own 40 percent of the project with the Niger government holding the balance. Semafo bore the $26 million capital needed to develop the mine, and Etruscan’s interest is free carried. Semafo is owned by Morrocan construction group Managem, Moroccan Groupe ONA’s mining arm. Managem will operate Samira Hill. McNeill does not see AngloGold Ashanti takeover affecting the juniors operating in West Africa. “We don’t feel any pressure in terms of consolidation – what the Ashanti deal did is draw a huge amount of attention to West Africa, and that helps us to raise capital,” McNeill said.