The Ity deposits can be broadly classified as orogenic gold deposits, like most of the Birimian gold deposits with the possible exception of the Tarkwa paleoplacers.

The two different subtypes of hypogene mineralisation in the Ity area are described as:
• Au-Cu-Mo-Ag-W skarns, and
• Au-As-(Sb) shear zones.

Skarn deposits within the Ity Gold Project include Mont lty, lty Flat, ZiaNE and Walter also include the material from which the Aires and Teckraie dumps have been derived. The primary difference between Mont lty and ZiaNE appears to be the lack of karst development at ZiaNE due to the position of the granodiorite in the footwall.

The skarn corresponds to a sulphur rich skarn (pyrite-pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite, 3-10%) with accessory magnetite. These mineralised zones form discontinuous, sub parallel lenses at the contact with the granodiorite. In the north part of the deposit economic grades and thicknesses were intercepted in the drillholes from the 2013 campaign. The sulphide mineralisation was intersected in the carbonates and the granodiorite at ZiaNE and is continuous with the mineralisation in the oxidised portions of the skarn. The mineralised portions of the reduced saprolites correspond to the decarbonation of marble and exoskarn. These are rocks rich in chlorite, tremolite and/or actinolite. The reduced saprolites are the transition zone between the oxidised material and the fresh rock.

The oxidised saprolites form the major part of the mineralisation at Mont lty. The mineralisation was originally a skarn which has undergone severe supergene alteration. The alteration was enhanced by the dissolution of the sulphides. The alteration was responsible for the generation of karst into which the saprolite material collapsed which provides an explanation for the geometry of the deposit.

The Daapleu and Gbeitouo deposits resemble typical shear zone deposits of the West African granite-greenstone terrane. Both deposits are associated with a major regional shear zone but developed on secondary structures. The lithologies can be any form of sediment, carbonate or igneous rock with the main feature being a shear zone between the two contrasting lithologies. Mineralisation may also be spatially related to the emplacement of intrusives. The gold mineralisation is mesothermal in origin and occurs as free gold in quartz vein stockworks and zones of silicification, associated with arsenopyrite and to a lesser extent pyrite and antimony. Depending on the geological terrane other metals may be associated with the gold and arsenic.

The gold mineralisation is found in linear zones in or near the contacts between two different rock types. This contact shows evidence of shearing. Alteration is weak to severe depending on the development of the system.

The current Ity heap leach mine is a conventional owner mining open pit operation employing articulated trucks (40 t) and hydraulic back hoe excavators (80 t). Currently limited drilling and blasting activities are required at the site as the material mined is mostly oxidised (clays and laterites). This will change in the CIL operation as more fresh material will be mined from the deeper open pits, especially from the deepest Daapleu pit with limited oxidised zone. The mining equipment will also change as the 90 t capacity dump trucks and 120 t class backhoe excavators are selected for CIL operations to sustain the required production rates.

The selected mining method for the Project is conventional open pit excavator-truck operation with the production unit operations (drilling, blasting, loading, hauling and dumping) carried out by owner mining personnel and equipment. Ore and waste production rates will be monitored and material reconciliation will be carried out continuously for the pit areas in production. Mining plans will be updated and production schedule revisions will be issued regularly as the mining progresses.

The pit areas will be cleared of shrubs and trees and these will be dumped to the specified locations. The topsoil from the open pit and waste dump areas will be stockpiled to the designated areas to use later for rehabilitation. The area preparation cost estimates in the feasibility study cost model include both the clearing and topsoil removal operations.

The production drilling and blasting operations will be carried out at 5 m benches. A half bench height (flitch) of 2.5 m will be mined in ore and waste to achieve a high degree of selectivity in loading and hauling operations.

The average blasting powder factor was assumed to be 0.60 kg/bcm (ANFO equivalent) for the transitional and fresh rock with a density above 2.0 t/bcm. The highly weathered zone (clays and laterites) and transitional zone with a density below 2.0 t/bcm will amenable to free digging as per the current mining practice at the site. It is assumed that emulsion will be used in both wet and dry blasting for efficiency.

Grade control drilling will be carried out by a drilling contractor and the samples will be tested in the onsite laboratory. Sampling will commence with grade control drilling ahead of the mining front, aimed at assisting the short to medium term mine planning process. The grade control will be based on 138 mm diameter RC drilling and sampling practice. A grade control pattern of 5 m x 10 m is suggested for 20 m deep holes and 2.0 m vertical sampling intervals. The holes will be angled 60 degrees from the hanging wall side of the ore zones to provide a good intersection with the mineralised structures.

The existing heap leach process will continue to be used as long as there is weathered ore to be treated. Whilst the recovery from the heap leach is not as metallurgically efficient as the CIL route, the tailings from the heap leach can be reprocessed through the CIL plant.

The heap leach process consists of blending the sources of ore (namely laterite and saprolite) crushing to nominally smaller than 20mm with agglomeration of the fines with up to 20kg/t Au of cement. The agglomerated ore is then placed onto the heap leach pads and irrigated for about 60 days with a cyanide solution, in two stages.

The gold released from the heap leach pads is directed to the solution ponds prior to being directed to the carbon-in-solution (CIS) columns for gold adsorption. The resulting barren solution is directed to the barren solution pond and pumped back to an older heap leach pad for continued gold extraction.

The carbon is recovered and the gold is eluted by the ZADRA process with carbon being regenerated for reuse in the CIS plant. The gold is recovered by electrowinning and smelted into doré, prior to be dispatched for refining.

The heap leach process is reportedly recovering between 75% and 80% of the recoverable gold, but as there is no total gold analysis, the actual recovery is unknown. The old heap leach pads from the earlier mining operations contain between 1g/t Au and 1.2g/t Au as reported in the geological section of this report. It is assumed these values are total gold.

During lift management, a 1.2mm HDPE barrier liner is placed between the under material and the new production. This is one way of managing production from the heap but can sterilise areas and volumes in the old material from recovery.

Considering the head grade of the Ity Mine, the heap leach process route would not have been the preferred technical option, but there may have been other considerations during the selection process for the process route.

Cyanide detoxification with sodium hypochlorite is reported to be conducted on any excess solution that may flow from the ponds intermittently, but generally during excessive weather events.

The available heap leach pads can accommodate up to an additional 5Mt by going to lift number 5, or even more if need be by an additional lift.

The future Heap Leach operations are expected to carry on beyond the commissioning of the CIL plant, scheduled towards the beginning of 2018. The current forecast production is expecting between 800,000t and 1,000,000t to be placed per year on the heaps. Based on the historical performance for the last 12 months, these production rates have been achieved and there is no reason to suspect that they cannot be achieved going forward, subject to appropriate maintenance regimes being enforced and adequate control of good safety and housekeeping standards.

The gold recovery is forecast to be greater than 84% of the recoverable gold. This is higher than has been reportedly achieved on an annual basis, but seems to have been achieved in recent months.