Firefinch Ltd sets its sights on 200,000 ounces of gold per year

Firefinch Ltd (ASX:FFX) (OTCMKTS:EEYMF) (FRA:N9F) outlined its golden recipe for future success to investors in its 2020 annual report, released on Thursday.

The company has bold plans to produce 200,000 ounces of gold a year, as it aims to become a mid-tier gold producer.

Its key asset is the operating Morila Gold Project in Mali, which has a measured resource estimate of 3.15 million tonnes at 0.5 g/t gold, while the company is actively seeking the right partner for its Goulamina Lithium Project.

Plenty to look forward to

Firefinch executive chairman Dr Alistair Cowden, who will resume his previous role as non-executive chairman now that Dr Michael Anderson has been appointed as managing director, said shareholders could look forward to a bumper 2021.

“I step back after a year as executive chairman with some pride, as we have all the ingredients for success; great people, great assets and a good culture,” he said.

“There is a sense of excitement and momentum around your company and Firefinch now is essentially a new company, with new projects, new investors and a clear path to wealth creation; a Firefinch taking flight.”

As previously reported by Proactive, Firefinch undertook a definitive feasibility study on Goulamina, which underlined its status as one of the world’s best undeveloped hard rock lithium deposits, Dr Cowden said.

Morila potential

In 2020 Firefinch made a transformational acquisition with its US$29.7 million purchase of the Morila gold mine, adjacent to the company’s existing Massigui Gold Project, after raising an impressive $74 million from existing and new shareholders.

Dr Cowden described the purchase as a “remarkable” turning point in the company’s history.

“This asset is transformational,” he said. “Firefinch is now a gold producer with over 200 employees and 400 contractors in Mali.

“Your team has defined a 2.35-million-ounce resource at Morila, has largely refurbished the processing plant and tailings dam, and is nearing completion of a Life of Mine Plan which is targeting sustained 150,000 to 200,000 ounces per annum of gold production.

“This rapid transformation has allowed us to rebuild board and management capability and

we are delighted to have attracted talent of such a high calibre.”

Just this week Firefinch returned impressive drilling results at the project’s Viper deposit, highlighted by an intercept of 5 metres at 17.7 g/t from 37 metres.

Next steps

Infill drilling is in progress at Viper to reduce drill spacing in these areas from 40 metres to 20 metres.

On completion of these holes, further holes will be completed to test down dip of better intersections.

Assay turnaround time from the independently operated on-site laboratory at Morila is about two to three weeks.

The company is working towards completing a life of mine (LoM) plan for the Morila gold mine.

Drilling has been underway at the Koting, N’Tiola, Viper and Pit 5 satellite deposits for some months and there is a backlog of 5,000 samples awaiting assay at both the Morila laboratory and at commercial laboratories.

The drilling will enable an estimate of new mineral resources for these deposits, the design of mine plans and the estimation of ore reserves.

It is expected that this information will be available by late April and permit the completion of the LoM plan for release to market thereafter.

Meanwhile, Firefinch continues to work with Macquarie Capital which is assisting in securing a partner, financing and offtake for the Goulamina Lithium Project, as well as advising on the possible demerger of the lithium and gold businesses into two separate, ASX-listed companies.

Firefinch shareholders are expected to receive a pro-rata allocation of shares in the proposed new lithium focused company with further details to be provided…