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Burkina Faso

Youga Mine

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Gold
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotAvesoro Holdings Ltd., a private equity firm, acquired the mine in December 2018. Mine operations data has not been publicly available since then.
Related AssetYouga Operation

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Government of Burkina Faso 10 % Direct
Avesoro Holdings Ltd 90 % Indirect
Burkina Mining Company SA 90 % Direct
On February 29, 2016, the Endeavour Mining Corp announced and completed the sale of its non-core Youga Mine to MNG Gold for $25.3 million.

Youga was acquired by the Avesoro Resources Inc. on 18 December 2017.

Avesoro Resources was delisted at TSX in January 2020.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Mesothermal
  • Breccia pipe / Stockwork
  • Vein / narrow vein

Summary:

The gold deposits within the Youga, Ouaré and Balogo properties can be described as epigenetic, mesothermal (“lode”) gold deposits, demonstrating a strong structural control and relationship to regional scale shear zones. Similar deposits can be found in other areas of the late Proterozoic Birimian terranes of West Africa.

At Youga and Ouaré, gold mineralisation is intimately associated with pervasive silicification, quartz veining and sulphidation (predominantly pyrite), although sulphide content is extremely low (generally <1%).

The majority of the Youga gold deposits are hosted within the Tarkwaian sandstones, while Ouaré is hosted along the sheared contact between mafic volcanics to the north and quartz-feldspar porphyritic rocks to the south.

Within the Youga deposit, there are two distinct styles of mineralisation:
• Moderately to weakly silicified arkose with quartz stockwork veining and pyrite is the predominant sulphide which generally grades between 0.5 g/t and 2 g/t
• Intensely silicified arkose with abundant quartz veins and more diverse sulphides which generally grades >3 g/t.

The Ouaré mineralisation is on the Bitou 2 Exploration Permit and has been delineated in three zones, along a strike length of 2 km.

At the Ouaré Main zone, mineralisation occurs as quartz veins within shear zones at the contacts between felsic and mafic volcanics. Orpailleur workings have been developed along mineralised structures in two orientations: 090° and 315°. The 090° portion of these workings have multiple parallel quartz veins along shears in an interpreted dilation zone. The 315° portion is interpreted as a 100 m wide deformation zone, terminating the 090° trend.

The gold mineralisation appears to preferentially follow the lithologic contacts between felsic volcanics and mafic volcanics, particularly within a shear zone of inter layered quartz-feldspar porphyritic and intermediate to mafic volcanic rocks. Gold mineralisation appears to be confined to a major 090° trending deformation corridor of dextral strike slip.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

CommodityUnits2018201720162015
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré.

Operational metrics

Metrics2018201720162015
Plant annual capacity 1.12 Mt1.12 Mt
Tonnes milled 1,237,149 t1,199,577 t1,119,197 t1,064 kt
Stripping / waste ratio 5
Ore tonnes mined 1,335 kt
Waste 6,684 kt
Total tonnes mined 8,026 kt

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Operating Costs

Currency2017
OP mining costs ($/t mined) USD  ....  Subscribe
Processing costs ($/t milled) USD

Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jan 13, 2024

EmployeesContractorsTotal WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2016

Aerial view:

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