Perseus Mining Ltd has resumed drilling at the Meyas Sands Gold Project (MSGP) in Sudan to drill out the Galat Sufur South (GSS) deposit and establish a JORC 2012-compliant ore reserve.
Drilling started on May 20, 2024, after Perseus re-established facilities to support on-site exploration activities and in-house security teams at the MSGP camp.
This followed a period when on-site activities were temporarily suspended due to the outbreak of hostilities in Sudan in April 2023.
The drill program is aimed at testing high-priority exploration targets in the vicinity of the GSS deposit to follow up drilling results received to date.
“Positive step forward”
Perseus’s chairman and CEO Jeff Quartermaine said: “When Perseus acquired the Meyas Sand Gold Project in 2022 through the acquisition of Orca Gold Inc, we were very excited by the prospects of developing a large-scale, low-cost, long-life gold mine in northern Sudan that would add a further high-quality mine to Perseus’s multi mine, multi-jurisdiction asset portfolio.
"The outbreak of hostilities in the south and west of Sudan in 2023 represented a serious setback for Perseus’s ambitions for MSGP, but the recent recommencement of drilling activities is considered a positive step forward that hopefully will lead to the development of MSGP when peace is finally restored throughout the country.”
Previous results
Among the best results from previous drilling are:
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- 4.1 metres at 5.48 g/t gold from 181.9 metres including 2.1 metres at 9.42 g/t from 181.9 metres; and
- 77 metres at 3.47 g/t from 191 metres including 3.6 metres at 3.06 g/t from 196.4 metres, 9.9 metres at 14.56 g/t from 214.1 metres and 7 metres at 4.67 g/t from 260 metres.
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- 37 metres at 4.56 g/t from 32 metres including 7 metres at 6.91 g/t from 32 metres, 1 metre at 3.96 g/t from 51 metres and 5 metres at 15.82 g/t from 64 metres;
- 13.4 metres at 2.88 g/t from 73 metres including 5 metres at 6.3 g/t from 76 metres;
- 13.55 metres at 1.72 g/t from 125.15 metres including 0.8 metres at 10.05 g/t from 135.6 metres;
- 20.7 metres at 1.17 g/t from 150.3 metres including 1 metre at 6.11 g/t from 166 metres; and
- 43.8 metres at 1.54 g/t from 201 metres including 1.25 metres at 3.43 g/t from 203.75 metres and 1 metre at 3.74 g/t from 207 metres.
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- 20 metres at 3.12 g/t from 32 metres including 4 metres at 11.25 g/t from 43 metres.
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- 81 metres at 2.02 g/t from 0 metres including 6 metres at 6.54 g/t from 16 metres, 1 metre at 3.68 g/t from 34 metres, 1 metre at 5.73 g/t from 55 metres, 1 metre at 3.57 g/t from 59 metres and 1 metre at 7.77 g/t from 74 metres.
These results have confirmed the grade and tenor of the GSS deposit, and while incomplete, are considered very encouraging.
Toward JORC ore reserve
"The confirmatory drilling results that have been achieved by our team to date at MSGP are very encouraging and we are now looking forward to returning further strong results that will lead to the conversion of the published foreign reserve estimate for MSGP into an updated ore reserve reported in accordance with JORC 2012 on which a FEED study can be confidently based,” Quartermaine added.
The MSGP is in the far north of Sudan, about 75 kilometres south of the border with Egypt, and is fully permitted by the Sudanese Government with a Mining Lease, Royalty agreement and a water permit formally granted incorporating attractive fiscal terms, and clearly delineated rights and obligations of key stakeholders.
Work at MSGP
Since acquiring the MSGP in May 2022, Perseus has focused on the development of the GSS deposit, and when possible, has conducted infill resource definition drilling, sterilisation trenching and drilling, a passive seismic survey, hydrogeological, metallurgical and geotechnical work in preparation for the inclusion of data in a FEED Study and a Final Investment Decision (FID) for the project.
However, in late April 2023, following the outbreak of armed conflict, Perseus withdrew most of its employees from the MSGP site pending a resolution of the conflict with the safety of its staff being the number one priority.
Although hostilities continue in certain parts of Sudan, the area in which MSGP is located has not been the scene of conflict, and there have been no reported incidents involving the combatants in an area of about 250,000 square kilometres around the site.
FID deferred
Notwithstanding, Perseus considers that proceeding with the execution of a complex mine development project in the context of ongoing insecurity and the reported destruction of the country’s industrial base in Khartoum, would be unwise.
As a result, the pending FID on the development of Meyas Sand has been deferred until confidence in the future of Sudan as a viable investment destination is restored. At this stage, there is no clear line of sight to when this might occur.
The MSGP site has subsequently been secured by a security force led by Perseus’s in-house security personnel, and include representatives of the Sudanese Mining Police, a body that operates under the control of the Ministry for Minerals, as well as representatives of our host communities.
Next steps
Perseus said that refurbishment and construction of the camp continued to make good progress, supply lines and logistics had largely been reestablished and exploration activities within the mining lease area had resumed.
It is intended that as soon as practical, Perseus will convert the published foreign reserve estimate for the Meyas Sand Project, into an ore reserve prepared in accordance with the requirements of JORC 2012.
Exploration drilling will be also conducted on the broader Block B exploration licence.