Firefinch Limited (Mali Lithium)
Firefinch Limited (Mali Lithium)
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Australian-based miner Firefinch has made a major step towards the resumption of mining at its 80%-owned Morila Superpit in Mali with the start of dewatering the site that produced 7.5Moz gold for former owners Barrick Gold and AngloGold Ashanti between 2000 and 2020.
Since completing the $US28.9M acquisition of the mine 6 months ago, Firefinch has ramped up production through its 4.5Mtpa mill initially from tailings retreatment and moving on shortly to satellite openpits and stockpiles.
New producer Firefinch remains on track for its March qtr (Q1) production guidance of 10,000-10,500oz from reprocessing of tailings at its 80%-owned Morila gold mine in S Mali following output of 3,494oz in Jan and 3,372oz in Feb.
Australian-based Firefinch is undertaking multiple capital works including refurbishment of the processing plant and tailings dam upgrades as it prepares to start mining satellite pits in mid-2021.
Western Australia-based Firefinch is planning to spin off its Goulamina Lithium Project in SW Mali for ASX-listing later this year, subject to shareholder and other approvals.
The demerger proposal includes Firefinch shareholders getting free shares in the new entity proportional to their existing holding, giving shareholders an investment in 2 high quality companies, the other being the Morila Gold Project in S Mali, which recently lifted its global resources to 2.35Moz.
New gold producer Firefinch has lifted indicated/inferred resources at its Morila Gold Mine in SW Mali to 2.2Moz contained from 1.3Moz, with the grade up from 1.2g/t to 1.6g/t, the bulk of which is open pittable.
Studies are underway to target production of 150,000oz-200,000oz pa from a Morila superpit using existing infrastructure. The increase takes global resources for the entire Morila project up to 2.35Moz.
Western Australia-based Firefinch has exceeded guidance with 4,228oz of gold produced in Dec 2020 from processing tailings at the Morila gold openpit mine in SW Mali, taking its total to 7,683oz since the company acquired 80% of the mothballed mine from Barrick Gold and AngloGold Ashanti for $US29M on Nov 11, 2020.
The previous prediction was 4,000oz-4,100oz. Firefinch has also reaffirmed a production target of 10,000oz-10,500oz for the Mar 2021 qtr (Q1 21).
Above-guidance production from retreatment of tailings in the first month after its change of ownership will help Firefinch achieve its target of resuming openpit mining within months at the Morila gold mine in SW Mali.
Firefinch, which acquired 80% of the mothballed mine from Barrick Gold and AngloGold Ashanti for $US29M last month, produced 4,130oz gold from treatment of 544,714t tailings at AISC of about $1,000-1,100/oz in Nov.
Australia-based Firefinch, formerly Mali Lithium, has poured 1st gold at its 80%-owned Morila Gold Mine in SW Mali under the company’s ownership, and is expected to notch up an above estimate 4,000oz-4,100oz in the month of November at all-in-costs of about $US1,000oz-$1,100oz.
Morila, acquired from Barrick Gold and AngloGold Ashanti for $29M in Nov 2020, has measured-indicated-inferred resources of 1.49Moz within 39.3Mt @ 1.17g/t), with excellent potential to increase that.
New 80% owner Firefinch has lifted total measured, indicated and inferred gold resources to 1.49Moz (39.3Mt @ 1.17g/t) as its consulting mining engineers begin mine design and scheduling for the rejuvenation of the Morila project in SW Mali, acquired from Barrick Gold and AngloGold Ashanti for $US29M in Nov 2020.
Firefinch (formerly Mali Lithium) has completed its $US28.87M acquisition of 80% of the 8.7Moz resource Morila gold mine in SW Mali from Barrick Gold and AngloGold Ashanti, the govt of Mali retaining the other 20%.
The final acquisition price was $27.67M, plus a $1.2M adjustment for gold in dore and fine carbon.
A new report on Mali Lithium’s Goulamina Lithium Project in S Mali, West Africa, puts it among the world’s highest quality lithium assets that will deliver a long-life, large-scale, hard rock, low cost open pit operation.
A key advantage is the quality of the 6% Li2O spodumene concentrate (SC6) product, being high in grade and low in impurities.