Segun Lawson, President and CEO of Thor Explorations (TSX.V:THX – US:THXPF), joins us for a financial, production, and exploration update at the producing Segilola Gold Project mine in Nigeria, along with an exploration update at the Douta development project in Senegal.
We review the Q2 metrics around All-In Sustaining Costs “AISC”, head grades, recovery rates, and production output at the Segilola mine of 23,785 ounces of gold produced, right in the middle of Company guidance, and returning a total of 45,128 oz of gold produced in the first half of the year. The mill is also seeing throughput beyond the nameplate expectations and improved higher recovery rates closer to 95.5%. The average head-grade has also risen to around 3-4 g/t, blending high-grade underground ore with above ground stockpiles. All-in sustaining costs are still on track for the annual guidance for between $850-$950 AISC, so there are fantastic margins, and due to outperformance the Company has raised full year guidance to 90,000 to 100,000 ounces of gold.
Next we discussed the continued progress in the repayment of an additional tranche toward the Senior Debt Facility reducing the debt to US$37,306,971 million, with next quarterly payment scheduled to reduce it down around US$28 million, effectively chopping it half after the first full year of production is completed in 2022. This provides the company options with restructuring the remaining debt, or just pushing more revenues and cashflows towards exploration and expansion for 2023 and beyond.
The conversation then shifted to resource expansion and definition at Segilola, with the on-going 25,000 meter drill program well underway with the goal to expand resources and mine life as well as find nearby accretive potential open pit satellite deposits that can feed the mill, with more drilling planned after that kicking off in September from at depth from underground looking for more high-grade discoveries to extend the mine life and production pipeline.
We wrap up with the ongoing exploration at the key development-stage Douta Project in Senegal, where the Company is looking to extend the Makosa ore body, successfully connecting it to the Makosa Tail, and expanding it to the north by 1 km, as well as doing further drill testing around the new mineralized discovery at the Mansa and Maka targets. As the exploration program progresses the goal is to expand the resource to over 1 million ounces, beyond the recent 730,000 ounce Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate for the Makosa Deposit, which was announced November 17th, as well as to conduct and release a Pre-Feasibility Study by year end.
If you have any questions for Segun regarding the ongoing work at Thor Explorations, then please email us at either fleck@kereport.com or shad@kereport.com.