Orezone Gold Corporation (TSX.V: ORE OTCQX: ORZCF) is pleased to
announce it has entered into a binding letter of intent for a
silver streaming agreement with EURO Ressources S.A. (“EURO”) to
sell 50% of the future payable silver production from the Bomboré
Gold Project for an upfront cash payment of US$7,150,000.
Highlights
-
Realizes value for silver not included in the 2019
feasibility study – The value of the silver is not
included in the 2019 Bomboré feasibility study due to a lack of
assay data. This streaming deal now unlocks that value while
allowing the Company to participate in the remaining 50% silver
values;
-
Provides immediate cash for exploration at Bomboré
– The upfront sale of the silver stream will allow the
Company to conduct exploration drilling on near-term oxide targets
and newly identified high-grade sulphide targets;
-
Does not impact project debt package of the Bomboré project
– The previously announced debt financing package is based
solely on the gold economics and does not incorporate the
silver;
-
Stream buyback at Orezone’s option – Orezone
retains the option to buy back 50% of the silver stream thereby
maintaining additional exposure to the metal in a rising
commodities environment.
“We are very pleased to announce this silver
stream transaction with EURO. The Bomboré project offers tremendous
exploration potential and merits further drilling and this
transaction provides immediate funds for such work.
Despite the lack of comprehensive silver assay data for the Bomboré
project, current management has always been aware of the presence
of silver and recent work with EURO has provided a platform to
unlock this value. This non-dilutive source of capital is a very
positive outcome for our shareholders and will allow us to continue
demonstrating the exploration potential of Bomboré during project
construction. I am also pleased to complete this unique deal with
EURO, whose team is very familiar with Burkina Faso and our Bomboré
project,” said CEO Patrick Downey.
Key Terms of Silver
Stream:
The definitive silver purchase agreement (the
“Stream Agreement”) will be with Orezone’s Burkina Faso subsidiary.
Pursuant to the terms of the Stream Agreement:
- EURO will make
a cash payment of US$7,150,000 to Orezone on closing as
consideration for the purchase of 50% of the payable silver
produced at Bomboré for life of mine.
- Orezone is to
deliver a minimum annual payment equivalent to 37,500 ounces of
silver to EURO commencing from the date of commercial production
for Bomboré. Should there be a shortfall in the annual silver
deliveries, Orezone will make an initial catch-up payment only on
the later of: (a) the fifth anniversary from the date of the
initial silver delivery under the Stream Agreement and (b)
repayment of senior secured term loan for development of Bomboré,
to ensure the aggregate minimum annual payment has been satisfied
for each of the preceding years. Thereafter, Orezone will make
catch up payments, if required, on an annual basis until the
cumulative delivery or payment of 375,000 ounces of silver after
which the minimum annual payment guarantee will no longer apply.
Orezone will provide a parental guarantee to EURO in favour of its
Burkina Faso subsidiary to secure its obligations under the Silver
Stream.
- If, within the
first five years of the life of mine, Bomboré’s sulphide processing
plant achieves an average throughput rate 50% above the 2019
feasibility study design capacity, Orezone has the right to buy
back 50% of the Silver Stream from EURO for US$7,150,000.
- EURO has a
right of first refusal, for the life of mine, over any further
silver production from Bomboré that has not been purchased by EURO
pursuant to the Silver Stream.
- The completion
of the Silver Stream is subject to standard precedent conditions
for a transaction of this nature.
Exploration Potential
The primary objective of the previous drilling
at Bomboré was to bring the main shear zone to the Measured and
Indicated categories to support a feasibility study and subsequent
project financing in a cost-effective manner. With Bomboré being
fully financed, this silver stream transaction allows the Company
the opportunity to perform additional drilling to investigate
further expansion potential on the project.
Targets include:
- Extension Drilling – Additional
drilling between known mineralized zones to establish
continuity
- Infill Drilling – Converting
near-pit oxide and sulphide inferred resources to M&I to
incorporate into the mine plan
- Regional Drilling – Numerous
prospective targets have been identified on the exploration
claims
Extension drilling to confirm continuity
between mineralized zones
The Bomboré project spans over 13kms and is yet
to be fully defined. Several isolated mineralized zones are
believed to be continuous but have not been drilled sufficiently to
confirm such continuity. Two such zones identified as high priority
drill targets are the P17 sulphide zone and the hanging wall oxide
zone at Maga.
P17 - P17S Gap - Figure 1
This high priority exploration target was
discovered late in project development and recent drilling has
defined high-grade sulphide resources1 at P17S. Unlike the main
moderately dipping shear zone of the project, the P17S and P17
zones are plunging folded granodiorite bodies with grades more than
double that of the overall average grade for the project. Drilling
just to the north of the P17S reserve pit indicates that the
orebodies are still open and that repeat folding is evident and
trending towards the surface at P17, 1.2kms to the north.
Drilling at the P17 zone also returned excellent
intercepts and there is a large untested gap between these two
areas. The objective of future drilling will be to infill this
large, underexplored area and expand the high-grade resources and
reserves.
Figure 1: P17 - Plan View of Prospective
Exploration Potential
- https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2f232559-4ce6-4bd5-8092-8fe9ebce7dd3
Maga Oxides – Figure 2
The Maga area in the northern end of the Bomboré
mining permit has both oxide and sulphide drill targets. The oxide
targets in the hanging wall were previously inaccessible prior to
the recent relocation of families to their new resettlement
villages. Shallow RC drilling in this area will focus on
establishing continuity between oxide pits along this strike extent
of approximately 2kms of previous wide-spaced drilling. Limited
previous drilling together with auger drilling and historic
artisanal gold workings all outside of current reserve pits,
provide strong indication that the mineralized structures hosting
the current reserves display good lateral continuity and are very
prospective to expand these reserves.
Figure 2: Maga Hill – Plan view of
Prospective Exploration Potential
- https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7ed3c259-9892-4719-acb1-539d9b560c77
Infill drilling to convert Inferred
resources to Measured and Indicated
High-grade sulphide inferred mineralized zones
are located directly below or along strike of several sulphide pits
in the current mineral reserves, and previous drilling suggests
that these zones are both wide and continuous at Siga South where
the sulfide zone definition drilling is most advanced. Orezone has
identified 3 main target areas for sulphide resource drilling:
Maga, Siga South and Siga East. Drilling will focus on upgrading
these inferred resources to M&I which could result in an
increase in reserves and future plant expansions.
Table 1: Significant drill intercepts
from inferred blocks outside of reserve pits
Deposit |
Hole# |
From(m) |
To(m) |
Length(m) |
Grade(g/t gold) |
Siga East |
BBC2329 |
41.00 |
46.00 |
5.00 |
2.19 |
|
BBD0246 |
43.50 |
63.00 |
19.50 |
6.06 |
|
BBD0450 |
208.00 |
215.00 |
7.00 |
3.23 |
|
BBC4555 |
56.00 |
63.00 |
7.00 |
2.11 |
|
BBD0241 |
69.00 |
73.50 |
4.50 |
3.86 |
|
BBC4549 |
57.00 |
64.00 |
7.00 |
2.07 |
|
BBC4788 |
63.00 |
70.00 |
7.00 |
2.19 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Siga South |
BBD0647 |
157.00 |
175.00 |
18.00 |
1.73 |
|
BBD0181 |
89.00 |
123.50 |
34.50 |
1.18 |
|
BBD0182 |
122.50 |
169.00 |
46.50 |
1.35 |
|
BBD0183 |
167.00 |
213.50 |
46.50 |
1.13 |
|
BBD0178 |
157.00 |
196.00 |
39.00 |
1.75 |
|
BBD0179 |
184.00 |
211.00 |
27.00 |
1.01 |
|
BBD0179 |
214.00 |
230.50 |
16.50 |
1.80 |
|
BBD0174 |
153.00 |
193.50 |
40.50 |
1.20 |
|
BBD0170 |
117.00 |
129.00 |
12.00 |
14.52 |
|
BBD0167 |
142.00 |
161.50 |
19.50 |
1.74 |
|
BBC4506 |
40.00 |
55.00 |
15.00 |
7.54 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maga Hill |
BBD0904 |
174.00 |
187.00 |
13.00 |
1.58 |
|
BBD0803 |
105.00 |
113.00 |
8.00 |
5.88 |
|
BBD0803 |
150.00 |
160.00 |
10.00 |
1.55 |
|
BBD0133 |
97.50 |
111.00 |
13.50 |
3.50 |
|
BBD0878 |
65.00 |
76.00 |
11.00 |
2.62 |
|
BBD0136 |
66.00 |
76.00 |
10.00 |
3.76 |
* True widths for
Siga East and Siga South drilling are 100% of drilled
lengths** True
widths for Maga Hill drilling are approximately 95% of drilled
lengths
Regional drilling for mine life
extension
Orezone has 14,547 hectares of exploration
claims surrounding its mining lease with numerous prospective
targets that have been identified. Future drilling is also
warranted on these targets.
Project Debt Package
The Company is progressing with documentation on
the Senior Debt Facility and its US$35M Convertible Note Facility
with a conversion price of US$1.08. Please see the Company’s press
release dated January 21, 2021 for complete details.
About EURO
EURO is a French company whose main assets are a
royalty on the Rosebel Gold Mine production in Suriname (the
“Rosebel royalty”), a royalty on the Paul Isnard concessions, and
marketable securities. The Rosebel Gold Mine is 95%-owned by
IAMGOLD Corporation (“IAMGOLD”), and is operated by IAMGOLD. The
royalty on the Paul Isnard concessions is a net smelter returns
production royalty on future production of the Paul Isnard
concessions and an area of interest surrounding the concessions in
French Guiana, owned under a joint venture agreement between Orea
Mining Corp. (formerly Columbus Gold Corp.) and Nord Gold SE.
EURO has approximately 62.5 million shares
outstanding. At December 31, 2020, IAMGOLD France S.A.S. (“IAMGOLD
France”), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of IAMGOLD, owned
approximately 89.71% of all issued outstanding shares of EURO. As
at December 31, 2020, IAMGOLD France held 56,058,191 shares
representing 112,116,382 voting rights or 94.25% of the voting
rights of EURO. This threshold crossing results from a double
voting rights allocation.
Orezone Gold Corporation
Orezone Gold Corporation (TSX.V: ORE OTCQX:
ORZCF) is a Canadian development company which owns a 90% interest
in Bomboré, one of the largest undeveloped gold deposits in Burkina
Faso.
The 2019 feasibility study highlights Bomboré as
an attractive shovel-ready gold project with forecasted annual gold
production of 118,000 ounces over a 13+ year mine life at an All-In
Sustaining Cost of US$730/ounce with an after-tax payback period of
2.5 years at an assumed gold price of US$1,300/ounce. Bomboré is
underpinned by a mineral resource base in excess of 5 million gold
ounces and possesses significant expansion potential. Orezone is
fully funded to bring Bomboré into production with the first gold
pour scheduled for Q3-2022.
Patrick Downey,President and Chief Executive
Officer
Vanessa PickeringManager, Investor Relations
Tel: 1 778 945 8977 / Toll Free: 1 888 673
0663info@orezone.com /www.orezone.com
Qualified Persons
Dr. Pascal Marquis, Geo., Senior VP Exploration,
and Ian Chang, P. Eng., VP Projects, are the Qualified Persons who
have approved the scientific and technical information in this news
release.
For further information please contact
Orezone at +1 (778) 945-8977 or visit the Company’s website
at www.orezone.com.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation
Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
Cautionary Note Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain information
that may constitute “forward-looking information” under applicable
Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information in
this press release relates to statements with respect to the
closing of the Stream Agreement and the use of proceeds including
exploration at P17, P17S and the Maga oxides. Additional
forward-looking information relates to the Company’s strategic
plans, future operations, future work programs, capital
expenditures, and corporate and technical objectives.
Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of
assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known
and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause
the actual results and future events to differ materially from
those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information,
including the risks inherent to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the
mining industry, adverse economic and market developments and the
risks identified in Orezone’s annual information form under the
heading “Risk Factors”. There can be no assurance that such
information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future
events could differ materially from those anticipated in such
information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance
on forward-looking information. All forward-looking information
contained in this press release is given as of the date hereof and
is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and
information available to management as at the date hereof. The
Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise
any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except as required by
law.
________________________________
1 P17S contains Measured and Indicated resources
of 1.7Mt grading 2.11 g/t gold for 116,000 ounces of gold. Please
see Orezone’s NI 43-101 Technical Report (Amended) Feasibility
Study of the Bomboré Gold Project dated January 6, 2020 on
www.sedar.com for full Mineral Estimate disclosure.
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