Ity is located in the Lower Proterozoic Birimian Formation of the Toulépleu-Ity klippe. The Toulépleu-Ity klippe is a small remnant of Birimian within the older Archean portion of the West African Craton. The Ity area is characterized by a series of granodioritic intrusions into a sedimentary sequence of volcano- sediments and carbonates with a general NE-SW strike. The volcanic rocks are generally tuffaceous with chemistry tha ranges from basic to acidic. All formations have been subjected to regional metamorphism.

The deposits of Ity are classified as skarn or typical shear-hosted greenstone deposits. The skarns developed at the contacts of a central northeast trending lensoidal shaped body of granodiorite intrusives with the carbonate units on both northwest and southeast contacts. The Ity, Ity Flat, Tontouo and Walter deposits are hosted along the southeastern contact, whilst Flotouo, Zia and ZiaNE are hosted along the northwestern contact. Bakatouo deposit is interpreted as being hosted by the northeast continuation of the carbonate units, whilst the Colline Sud skarn deposit represents the southwest continuation. The skarns are characterized by epidote, carbonate, diopside, chlorite, tremolite, magnetite and garnet with gold associated with pyrite and chalcopyrite. The Teckraie and Verse Ouest deposits are rock dumps of the now depleted Flotouo (skarn) open pit and sit on top of weathered granodiorite. Aires consists of the decommissioned heap leach pads from the historic operation of the mine.

The in-situ deposits of Daapleu and Gbeitouo share many characteristics with typical shear zone deposits known in Birimian greenstone belts of West Africa. The deposits are associated with a major regional, NE-trending shear zone but are developed on secondary structures. The Daapleu deposit is characterized by the presence of a "rhyolitic" intrusive surrounded by a package of volcano-sediments. The "rhyolite" is locally called "daaplite". The "daaplite" is strongly altered and sheared and, at the contact, both lithologies have been affected by phyllic style hydrothermal alteration (sericite-silica-pyrite). Gold mineralization is mesothermal and occurs as fine-grained free gold within foliation and silicificied strips, associated with arsenopyrite and to a lesser extent with pyrite and silvercopper-antimony sulfosalts. The Gbeitouo deposit is hosted within volcano-sediments with variable intensity silicasericite-pyrite alteration. Minor pyrrhotite, galena and sphalerite have been noted in association with auriferous pyrite in proximal mineralized shears.

Le Plaque was discovered in 2017 and is a shear hosted deposit located mainly at the contact between granodiorite and diorite intrusions, developing a skarn unit with the country rocks. The geology of Le Plaque consists of a granodiorite batholith intruded into a sequence of Birimian meta-volcano-sediments, dominantly metasediments (impure marbles, metasiltstones and sandstones) to the west, and a belt of mafic metavolcanics to the east. Several generations of diorite and microdiorite bodies of variable thickness occur within the metasediments as sheeted sills and dykes, including some which are cutting through or bordering the granodiorite. The metasediments and magmatic rocks have been affected by skarn alteration forming exoskarn and endoskarn, although this event appears not associated with gold, contrary to general Ity style mineralization, whose mineral paragenesis bears significant copper.

The mineralization in Le Plaque is broadly associated with few metres-thick ductile and brittle ductile shears with quartz veining, silica-sericite alteration and locally massive sulfidic seams (pyrite, with subordinate sphalerite, minor chalcopyrite and local trace of galena and pyrrhotite). There is no visible gold on core, even within the highestgrade intercepts, and almost no arsenopyrite. The presence of sphalerite, strong silicification and quartz veining usually correlates very well with the best grades. The anastomosed shearing network is usually well developed in the outer shell of the granodiorite, within the granodiorite and diorite units, and to a lesser extent within the skarn host rocks themselves.

The selected mining approach is conventional open pit excavator-truck operation with the production unit operations (drilling, blasting, loading, hauling and dumping) carried out by mining contractors SFTP and SMS, with small earth works being done by Sopremi. The mining fleet consists of larger capacity 90 t dump trucks and 120 t class backhoe excavators. The 40 t articulated dump trucks are still utilized depending on pit and dump conditions, in particular, during the wet season. Ore and waste production rates are monitored, and material reconciliations are carried out continuously for the pit areas in production.

The production, drilling and blasting operations are carried out on 10 m benches. A half bench height (flitch) of 2.5 m is mined in ore to achieve a high degree of selectivity in loading and hauling operations. The highly weathered zone (clays and laterites) and transitional zone with a density below 2.0 t/m3 are amenable to free digging. Emulsion is used in both wet and dry blasting for efficiency.

The production, drilling and blasting operations are carried out on 10 m benches. A half bench height (flitch) of 2.5 m is mined in ore to achieve a high degree of selectivity in loading and hauling operations. The highly weathered zone (clays and laterites) and transitional zone with a density below 2.0 t/m3 are amenable to free digging. Emulsion is used in both wet and dry blasting for efficiency.

Grade control drilling is carried out by a drilling contractor and the samples are tested in the onsite laboratory. Sampling commences with grade control drilling ahead of the mining front, aimed at assisting the short to medium term mine planning process. The grade control is based on 138 mm diameter RC drilling and sampling practice. A grade control pattern of 12.5 m x 6 m is used for 36 m deep holes (30 m vertical) and 1.0 m vertical sampling intervals. The holes are angled 50-55 degrees from the hanging wall side of the ore zones to provide a good intersection with the mineralized structures.

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Mining and stacking activities for the heap leach operation ceased in mid-December 2018 as the focus shifted to commissioning and ramping up the CIL plant.

The Ity Carbon-In-Leach Plant (“Ity CIL Plant”) processes a range of ore types (oxide, transition and fresh) with variable ore characteristics, gold grades and metallurgical treatment requirements. The primary ores (Fresh) are significantly more competent than the oxide ores.

Processing trials conducted in November 2019 and February 2020 indicated that low grade (<1.2g/t) primary ore can achieve a recovery of 76%. Further trials and testwork is underway to determine whether increased recoveries can be achieved from the high-grade portion of the Daapleu primary ore.

By contrast to some of the primary ore types, oxide ores are free milling with leach extraction of 90% to 96%. Mill feed requirements are supplemented successively with oxide material from Ity Flat, Mont Ity, Gbeitouo, Walter and Zia NE.