Stephen Stone

ASX listed Azumah Resources has announced some impressive gold intersections from its maiden drilling program at the Butele North target in Ghana. Results include a 6m intersection grading 1.86 g/t gold from the southernmost line. Private equity firm Ibaera Capital has agreed to plough $17.5m into the project for a 47.5% interest even though Azumah’s entire market cap is only $17.5m.

Shares in Azumah Resources have jumped by more than 50% on spectacular gold hits from its Wa project in Ghana, including 44m at 5.37 g/t gold. The West African-focused explorer believes a new geological model has led it to a high-grade oreshoot that could plunge to extensive depths and may lead to a material upgrade in resources. The company has enough funding to find out too.

Azumah Resources has outlined several new gold exploration targets from geophysical interpretations of a comprehensive VTEM survey at its emerging Wa East gold camp in northwest Ghana. The company says the 3km long Eve target has all the hallmarks of the Julie system nearby, which holds 834,000 gold ounces. The new target coincides with strongly anomalous gold geochemistry in surface sampling, but has not yet been drill tested.

Azumah Resources has reported that a review of the cost structure at the company’s Wa gold project in Ghana shows lower capital and operating costs compared to its 2015 feasibility study. The work shows higher plant throughput could be achieved, potentially positioning the project for future development. Recent exploration activity has defined a number of new drilling opportunities at Wa East, which has seen little or no historical work.

Azumah Resources has produced an updated mineral resource estimate of 49.2 million tonnes grading 1.6g/t gold for just under 2.5 million ounces at its Wa project in northwest Ghana. This represents a sizeable 21% increase on the previous global resource inventory reported 2 years ago. The measured and indicated resource categories have lifted by 16%, which will help underpin potential ore reserve upgrades for the project later this year.

Azumah Resources has kicked off a massive 40,000m multi-target drilling campaign to be managed and funded by Perth mining investment fund Ibaera Capital. Azumah is seeking to achieve a major boost to its resource and reserve numbers at the interesting looking project as it looks to deliver a feasibility study by the end of the year.

Azumah Resources has substantially increased the potential for underground mining at its flagship Wa project in Ghana after hitting an amazing 93m intersection grading 2.33 grams per tonne gold from 261m down-hole at the Bepkong East deposit. This includes two high grade intersections of 9.9m @ 8.42g/t gold from 295m and 2.16m @ 21.17g/t gold from 303m. Assays are pending on two other holes drilled at the deposit.

Azumah Resources continues to build the case for underground mining at its flagship Wa project in Ghana after making further deep, high grade drill hits including 35m @ 4.7g/t gold and 5m @ 6.01g/t gold. The company said that the Bepkong system remains open at depth and along strike and that follow-up holes are underway to extend mineralisation in the Eastern lode.

Azumah Resources has unearthed more high grade gold hits of 1m @ 140.49g/t gold from 208m down-hole and 5m @ 6.02g/t gold from 214m at the Kunche deposit of its flagship Wa project in Ghana. This has extended mineralisation at Kunche to about 200m below surface, confirming that the mineralisation of the deposit extends to depth and remains open at present

Azumah Resources has generated an updated ore reserve estimate of 18 million tonnes grading 1.77g/t gold for just over 1 million ounces at its Wa project in Ghana. This represents a 65% increase in the ore reserves last reported in 2014 and underpins a feasibility study that presently shows an 11 year project life, producing about 100,000 ounces per annum in the first 6 years.

Azumah Resources has confirmed the presence of a large mineralised system for the Bepkong East Lode of its flagship Wa gold project in Ghana after intersecting a 99.5 metre zone @ 2.16g/t gold from 316m down-hole that includes higher grade results of 10m @ 5.01g/t gold from 369m and 8.5m @ 5.82g/t gold from 406m. This provides further support for a potential future underground mining operation at Bepkong.

Azumah Resources has confirmed a substantial, mineralised gold system at the Bepkong East Lode in Ghana after returning high-grade intersections from multiple ore shoots up to 580m from the surface. Deeper intersections included 13.5m @ 3.21g/t gold from 480m down-hole and 2.5m @ 3.55g/t gold from 710.5m down-hole in separate drill holes. The company is now examining the economic merit of underground mining.

ASX-listed Azumah Resources has intersected narrow but exceptionally high-grade gold zones of up to 0.5m @ 168.3g/t gold from 650.5m down-hole while hunting for depth extensions to its flagship Kunche deposit in Ghana. This follows on recent confirmation of substantial gold mineralisation to 580m below the surface at the Bepkong deposit and provides geological information to guide the next phase of drilling.

In a further demonstration that its Wa gold project in Ghana is still hiding significant ounces outside of the main Kunche deposit, Azumah Resources has delivered a maiden underground resource of 2.4 million tonnes grading 3.59g/t gold for just under 280,000 ounces at its exciting Bepkong deposit, just north of Kunche. The result more than doubles the previous Bepkong resource, now standing at 517,600 ounces grading 2.38g/t gold.

Azumah Resources has completed a high-level scoping study indicating that its Bepkong underground deposit at the Wa gold project in north-western Ghana, could produce 154,000 ounces of gold and generate a cash flow of $47m over 4.5 years. In July, the company delivered a maiden underground resource of 2.4Mt @ 3.59g/t gold for 279,700 ounces at the Bepkong deposit, doubling the previous mineral resource inventory.

Azumah Resources has estimated that its Wa gold project in Ghana could deliver a pre-tax cash flow of USD$448m using an assumed gold price of USD$1,500 per ounce, up 66% from its scoping study estimate that used a price USD$1,300 per ounce. The higher gold price could also lift pre-tax NPV by almost 75% to USD$309m and increase the internal rate of return from 35% to about 54%.

Azumah Resources has advised shareholders to ignore a 2.8c a share takeover bid from Ibaera Capital, its private equity partner in the Wa gold project in Ghana, saying the offer appears opportunistic given the recent strengthening in gold prices and it overlooks the upside potential of the recent Bepkong underground deposit discovery. Azumah says that Ibaera has paid up to 3.7c a share in the past for its stock.

Azumah Resources’ Directors have advised their shareholders to take absolutely no action in relation to an unsolicited takeover bid saying that suitor, Ibaera Capital, has paid a lot more for Azumah stock in the past. The company said that shareholders who accept Ibaera’s offer may miss out on any revaluation of its Wa gold project in Ghana after a feasibility study has been completed early next year.