Roxgold Announces Robust Séguéla Feasibility Study with After-Tax NPV of US$380 Million and 49% IRR

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Roxgold Inc. (“Roxgold” or the “Company”) (TSX: ROXG) (OTCQX: ROGFF) is pleased to announce the results of the Feasibility Study (the “Feasibility Study”) and Mineral Reserve estimate for the high-grade Séguéla Gold Project (“Séguéla” or the “Séguéla Gold Project”) in Côte d’Ivoire. The Feasibility Study was prepared in accordance with Canadian Securities Administrators’ National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”).

The Feasibility Study confirms robust economics for the development of an open-pit mining operation at Séguéla, targeting a series of open-pit mines at Antenna, Koula, Ancien, Agouti and Boulder deposits that will feed a central gold processing facility. Roxgold intends to make a formal construction decision upon completion of a debt financing package and signed mining convention with the Government of Côte d’Ivoire.

A webcast and conference call to discuss the Feasibility Study results will be held on Monday, April 19^th, 2021 at 4:30PM Eastern time – details with respect to participation on the call are outlined in the “Séguéla Gold Project Feasibility Study Conference Call” section below.

Key Highlights (all financial results are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted):

1. Feasibility Study

Robust Economics

• The Feasibility Study considers an operation with an initial nameplate of 1.25 million tonnes per annum (“Mtpa”) and mine life of 9 years.
• LOM after-tax net cash flow of $536 million at a gold price of $1,600 per ounce.
• Robust economics with after-tax net present value (“NPV”) and internal rate of return (“IRR”) of:

High-Grade Mineral Resource and Initial Mineral Reserve Estimate

• Initial Proven and Probable Mineral Reserve estimate of 12.1 million tonnes grading 2.8 g/t Au totalling 1.1 Moz Au – positioning Séguéla among the highest-grade open pit gold projects globally.

Enhanced and Extended Production Profile

• Average annual gold production of 133,000 ounces over the first six years of production, with an estimated production peak of 151,000 ounces in year four.
• Life of Mine (“LOM”) gold production of 1.03 million ounces of gold with average annual production of 120,000 ounces.
• Processing plant throughput rate will be expanded by approximately 25% to 1.57Mtpa in year three, through a series of optimisation and debottlenecking measures with minimal capital requirements.

Low Quartile Costs

• Average cash costs¹ per ounce produced of $567 per ounce over the LOM, including a cash cost of $528 per ounce over the first six years of production.
• Average All-In Sustaining Costs (“AISC”)¹ of $832 per ounce over the LOM, including an AISC of $797 per ounce over the first six years of production.

Development Capital

• Estimated pre-production capital cost of $142 million.
• Early stage construction activities have commenced with site access road and camp construction underway. Full construction will commence following a formal construction decision and completion of debt financing.
• Front-end engineering and design work is well advanced and procurement activities of long lead items are underway.
• All permits required to begin construction are in hand.

2. Further Optimisation Opportunities

• Ongoing expansion and optimisation of the project. Drilling at depth at Koula and Ancien have continued to intersect high grade mineralization which suggests the potential for an underground expansion opportunity.
• An optimization study has commenced to explore the opportunity to mine more of the current Mineral Resource base from underground, which would reduce the need for larger respective pits and therefore substantially lower accompanying strip ratios.

3. Future Growth

• Roxgold is positioned well to expand the Séguéla Project with:
  • Potential for underground expansion at Koula and Ancien
  • Significant exploration prospectivity with the recent discovery of the Sunbird prospect and over 20 prospective targets yet to be tested

John Dorward, President and Chief Executive Officer commented: “We are pleased to share with the market the results of our Feasibility Study on Séguéla which underscores the substantial value accretion that this project will bring to Roxgold and its shareholders. Séguéla has rapidly become a cornerstone asset for Roxgold, with the potential to more than double the company’s production profile within a short time frame. We expect to be able to deliver this without the need for equity dilution.

“The value creation at Séguéla has been remarkable and we still believe there is significant upside through further optimisation opportunities and the exploration potential at the project. We acquired Séguéla in 2019 for $20 million in cash, and through the hard work of our exploration and project teams, we have been able to generate exceptional prospective project economics with an after-tax NPV attributable to Roxgold of $380 million and an IRR of 49% at a gold price of $1,600/oz.

“In the first six years of operation, the project will produce an average of 133,000 ounces of gold per year at an AISC of $797 per ounce generating an average annual EBITDA¹ of $130 million per year.

“Importantly, the Séguéla project as outlined today is just a snapshot in time of the potential value of the project. Our drill programs continue to have success delineating mineralization down plunge at Ancien and Koula, building confidence in the potential of high-grade underground scenarios from these deposits. Further, we continue to see the significant exploration prospectivity of Séguéla with the recent announcement of the discovery of Sunbird, which has the potential to be another high grade prospect within close proximity to our planned operations and infrastructure. As we continue to drill and define additional targets on our property package, our understanding of the drivers of the mineralization throughout the property continues to improve, increasing the likelihood of additional successes to come from the twenty plus targets on the property yet to be tested. It is our belief that, with continued drilling success, there is the potential to continue to add significant production ounces and value to Séguéla.”

Séguéla Gold Project Overview

The Séguéla Gold Project is located approximately 240 kilometres north-west of Yamoussoukro, the political capital of Côte d'Ivoire, and approximately 480 kilometres north-west of Abidjan, the commercial capital of the country. The Séguéla property covers an area of 35,360 hectares, defined by two exploration permits. The property is generally accessible year-round by road. Bituminised national highways facilitate transport between Abidjan, Yamoussoukro, and the town of Séguéla (population 65,000) which is the nearest major town to the property. The project is accessible from the town of Séguéla via approximately 40 km of unsealed road. The Séguéla Gold Project and the township of Séguéla occur in a region of low forested hills, with elevations averaging 347m above sea level.

Figure 1: Séguéla Gold Project

Table 1 – Feasibility Summary

Mineral Resource and Reserves Estimate

The Séguéla Mineral Resource Estimate provided in Table 2 includes the Antenna, Koula, Ancien, Agouti and Boulder deposits and was prepared by Hans Andersen from Roxgold. Roxgold completed an updated Mineral Resource estimate for the Koula deposit, based on the drillhole data cut-off of March 31^st, 2021. The Antenna, Ancien, Agouti and Boulder Mineral Resource estimates are unchanged since the previous reported Mineral Resource in the technical report entitled “NI 43-101 Technical Report, Séguéla Project, Worodougou Region, Cote d’Ivoire” with an effective report date of November 30^th, 2020 which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The Séguéla Mineral Resource estimate incorporates data from all Reverse Circulation (“RC”) and Diamond Drilling (“DD”) drilling prior to the cut-off, comprising 125,510 metres in 910 drillholes targeting Antenna, Koula, Ancien, Agouti, and Boulder since the acquisition of the Séguéla Project in April 2019.

Table 2 – Mineral Resource Estimate

The initial Séguéla Mineral Reserve estimate was prepared by Entech Pty Ltd, dated of March 31, 2021. Only Mineral Reserves have been incorporated into the mine plan and economic analysis.

Table 3 – Open Pit Mineral Reserve Estimate

Feasibility Study Overview

The Feasibility Study is based on an updated mine plan and initial Mineral Reserve estimate outlining the design of an open-pit gold mining project targeting a series of open-pit mines at Antenna, Koula, Ancien, Agouti and Boulder deposits feeding a central gold processing facility. The operation will produce an average of approximately 120,000 ounces of gold per year with an initial nine year mine life and significant exploration upside as demonstrated by recent drill results down plunge at Ancien and Koula, as well as at the new Sunbird discovery located 1 km to the southeast of Antenna. Initial capital to fund construction and commissioning is estimated at $142 million with total non-mining sustaining capital estimated at $43 million over the LOM including closure costs. All-in sustaining costs are estimated at $832 per ounce over the life of the Project, positioning the project among the lowest quartile of the industry.

The financial analysis performed from the results of this Feasibility Study demonstrates the robust economic viability of the Séguéla Gold Project using the base case gold price assumption of $1,600 per ounce. This results in an after-tax net present value cashflow at a 5% discount rate (NPV_5%) of $380 million (attributable to Roxgold) and an after-tax IRR of 49%. There are additional opportunities to further strengthen and enhance the project’s economic foundation through the continued drilling and extension testing of the existing resource base and definition of new targets as well as optimisation of the existing deposits.

The Feasibility Study was prepared by Roxgold in collaboration with various globally recognized engineering firms: Entech Pty Ltd, Lycopodium Minerals Canada, Knight Piésold and ECG Engineering. An NI 43-101 technical report prepared by Roxgold will be filed on SEDAR within 45 days of this news release providing further detail including exploration, geological modelling, Mineral Resource estimation, mine design, process design, infrastructure design, environmental management, capital and operating costs and economic analysis. Readers are encouraged to read the technical report in its entirety, including all qualifications, assumptions and exclusions that relate to the details summarized in this news release. The technical report is intended to be read as a whole, and sections should not be read or relied upon out of context.

Figure 2: Séguéla Site Layout

Mining and Recovery Methods

Mining

The Séguéla Gold Project will consist of the simultaneous exploitation of the Antenna deposit and the satellite deposits: Koula, Ancien, Agouti, and Boulder. The overall strategy is to have production from these satellite deposits complement the production from Antenna to achieve a baseline production rate sufficient to feed the processing plant at 1.25 Mtpa initially and increasing to 1.57 Mtpa in year 3. The project mine life contemplated in the Feasibility Study is nine years.

Mining activities at Séguéla will utilize conventional open-pit mining methods. Drill and blasting are planned for oxide and fresh mineralized material, followed by conventional truck and shovel operations within the pits for the movement of mineralized material and waste.

Two 200 tonne (“t”) excavators, complimented with one 120 tonne and one 80 tonne excavators in the latter stages of the satellite pits, with an estimated total material productive capacity of approximately 25.0 Mtpa, will have sufficient capacity to allow for maintenance, transport between the pits, and make-up capacity to account for low productivity periods such as high rainfall events. A fleet of up to twenty Caterpillar 777 trucks (payload of 100t) will be used in conjunction with several smaller articulated trucks for the latter stages of the satellite pits to truck and haul all mineralized and waste material. Roxgold will engage a mining contractor for initial operations, before switching to an owner mining arrangement after 3.5 years. A common pool of equipment will be used and scheduled across all active pits so that movement between the pits is minimised.

Figure 3: Séguéla Feasibility Study production profile

Run of Mine (“ROM”) mineralized material will be trucked from the pit to the ROM pad and dumped either onto the ROM pad to be reclaimed and loaded to the ROM bin or by direct tipping. The Feasibility Study contemplates a single stage primary crush/SAG milling comminution circuit where the mineralized material will be drawn from the ROM bin via an apron feeder, scalped via a vibrating grizzly with the undersize reporting directly to the discharge conveyor and the oversize reporting to a primary jaw crusher for further size reduction. All crushed and scalped material will be conveyed to a surge bin. Crushed mineralized material and water will be fed to the mill.

Metallurgy

Metallurgical testing was performed at the ALS Metallurgy laboratory in Perth, Western Australia, Australia under the supervision of Roxgold. The feasibility study testwork program expanded upon earlier work completed as part of the PEA to include additional comminution, cyanidation, rheology and cyanide detoxification testing on samples from all five deposits, weighted in accordance with the anticipated portion of mill feed each deposit contributes over the LOM. A testwork program was also conducted to further investigate the effect of oxygen injection on leaching.

The key results are summarized in Table 4.

Table 4 – Key results from the Séguéla metallurgical testwork program

The testwork showed that leaching is substantially complete within 24 hours and there is no apparent preg-robbing or refractory characteristics in the ores tested. Furthermore, it showed a fast-initial leaching rate with more than 80% of the stage extraction completed within the first 2 hours of cyanidation. The highest gold recovery was achieved for tests incorporating gravity recovery and elevated dissolved oxygen levels for the duration of the leach.

The mineralized material tested across all deposits exhibited a degree of grind sensitivity with an optimal grind size of 75 micron being confirmed for all extraction test work. The results of that program, were very encouraging, indicating free milling of the mineralized material with good leach kinetics and overall recoveries averaging 94.5%.

Comminution testwork including Bond Impact Crushability tests, Abrasion tests, Bond Ball and Rod Mill Work Index tests and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests were conducted and confirmed the PEA findings of Antenna being a hard/strong ore. The tests also confirmed that Boulder, Agouti, Ancien and Koula returned results indicating that these ores are all less competent than those at Antenna.

Processing

The Séguéla process plant design is based on a metallurgical flowsheet envisioned for the production of gold doré at optimum recovery while minimizing initial capital expenditure and operating costs. The flowsheet comprises of conventional crushing, milling, gravity recovery, a carbon-in-leach (“CIL”) circuit, carbon elution and a gold recovery circuit.

The key project design criteria for the plant are:

• Initial nominal throughput of 1.25 Mtpa mineralized material, increasing to 1.57 Mtpa in year 3
• Crushing plant availability of 75%
• Plant availability of 91.3% for grinding, gravity concentration, leach plant and gold recovery operations

The proposed process design is comprised of the following circuits. An overall process flow diagram depicting the unit operations incorporated in the selected process flowsheet is presented in Figure 3:

• Primary crushing of ROM material.
• A surge bin with overflow stockpile to provide buffer capacity ahead of the grinding circuit.
• Grinding circuit: Single-stage semi-autogenous grinding (“SAG”) mill with cyclones.
• Gravity recovery of cyclone underflow by a semi-batch centrifugal gravity concentrator, followed by intensive cyanidation of the gravity concentrate and electrowinning of the pregnant leach solution in a dedicated cell located in the gold room.
• Trash screening and thickening of cyclone overflow prior to leaching.
• Gold leaching in a CIL circuit.
• Acid washing of loaded carbon and split AARL type elution followed by electrowinning and smelting to produce doré. Carbon regeneration by rotary kiln.
• Disposal of tailings to the TSF.

The processing plant is planned to be expanded in year 3 to meet the realised productivity of the mine schedule. It is planned to increase the plants capacity from the initial 1.25 Mtpa to 1.57 Mtpa. This is expected to be achieved through an optimisation and debottlenecking process, whereby the installed capacity of the key plant bottlenecks is fully utilised. Another aspect of the design that contributes to this gain, is the plant comminution design criteria is based on Antenna ores, which are the most competent of the project. Therefore, as the other less competent ores make up more of the mill feed it is expected that the realised unit throughput rate will increase.

Figure 4: Séguéla Project Process Flow Sheet

Selected operating and production statistics from the Feasibility Study are presented in Table 5.

Table 5 – Séguéla Project Life-of-Mine Mining and Processing Plan Metrics

Roxgold Inc. Graeme Jennings, CFA Vice President, Investor Relations 416-203-6401 gjennings@roxgold.com