Cora’s Mali exploration permit renewed

West Africa-focused gold company Cora Gold says the first interim renewal of its Sanankoro II exploration permit was approved during the Mali government Council of Ministers meeting on August 21.

The Sanankoro II exploration permit, covering an area of 84.11 km², was awarded on March 2, 2021.

In due course, the area of the Sanankoro II exploration permit will form part of the permit area for mining operations at Cora’s flagship Sanankoro gold project.

“The renewal of the Sanankoro II exploration permit is a part of an ongoing permit reshaping exercise, needed to get all mining infrastructure under one mining permit area, and a significant step towards being awarded a mining permit for Sanankoro,” Cora CEO Bert Monro explains.

“The next stage in this process is the renewal of each of the Bokoro II and Kodiou exploration permits, which were not completed before the November 2022 moratorium came into effect.

These renewals will then enable the reshaping exercise to be completed and Cora’s application for a proposed 100 km² mining permit at Sanankoro to be progressed. We will continue to work closely with the government to transition to be fully permitted as quickly as possible to enable the construction of the Sanankoro gold mine to commence,” he adds.

Monro informs that work on the front-end engineering design (FEED) process, announced in May, is making good progress, in parallel with a drill programme targeting both extensions to existing deposits and a number of highly prospective near-mine greenfield targets.

“The FEED process is a key element in readying Sanankoro for full construction, forms part of the capital cost and is an important milestone in the delivery of the project to first gold pour,” he highlights.

Completing the FEED process will allow the company to make decisions on long lead items, with a view to potentially compressing the project’s delivery timeline once in receipt of the mining permit, Monro notes.