Avion Gold Currently has 3 distinct Project areas in Mali and Burkina Faso in West Africa:
- Tabakoto & Segala Project, Mali
- Kofi Project, Mali
- Hounde Project, Burkina Faso
The Tabakoto & Segala Properties are our flagship properties and were purchased from Nevsun Africa Ltd in May of 2008. Avion restarted the mill, developed the Segala Pit and commenced production in February of 2009.
The Kofi Project was acquired from Axmin with the acquisition closing in December of 2010. The property came with an indicated and inferred resource of 670,000 ounces of gold.
The Hounde Project was acquired from Avocet in October 2010. With minimal drilling Avion quickly established an indicated and inferred resource of 610,000 ounces of gold. Drilling continues on the property with an aim to increase the resource to over 1 million ounces in 2011.
Production
Gold production commenced in 2009 with feed for the mill primarily coming from the Segala Open Pit. A small amount of high grade ore was mined from the Tabakoto Open Pit in 2010. By the end of 2010 just over 138,920 ounces of gold were produced at the properties. As production has increased, so has the head grade and mill recovery increased, as seen in the chart below.
| Ore Milled (000 t) |
156.1 |
183.1 |
178.8 |
187.8 |
705.9 |
| Head Grade (g/t Au) |
3.26 |
3.95 |
4.28 |
4.46 |
4.02 |
| Recovery (%) |
96.5 |
95.8 |
96.2 |
97.3 |
96.5 |
| Gold Production (oz) (1) |
15,710 |
22,222 |
23,609 |
26,091 |
87,631 |
| Cash Cost (USD/oz) |
$886 |
$596 |
$498 |
$443 |
$574 |
(1)Ounces adjusted to final refined product.
| Ore Milled (000 t) |
180.8 |
197.1 |
227.9 |
233.1 |
838.8 |
| Head Grade (g/t Au) |
3.64 |
4.21 |
3.12 |
3.48 |
3.59 |
| Recovery (%) |
96.2 |
96.8 |
95.4 |
90.0 |
94.6 |
| Gold Production (oz) (1) |
20,272 |
25,823 |
21,687 |
23,445 |
91,228 |
| Cash Cost (USD/oz) |
$462 |
$544 |
$806 |
|
|
(1)Ounces adjusted to final refined product.
