Location:
Eastern Senegal, near the Mali border, 650 km east of the capital city of Dakar. Senegal is a stable and democratic nation in West Africa that gained its independence from France in 1960. The 212.6-sq-km OJVG Sabodala Project is accessible by air or all-weather roads and surrounds a 20.3-sq-km Exploitation Concession owned and operated by Mineral Deposits Limited (MDL) of Australia.
History & Ownership:
Oromin Explorations Ltd. ("Oromin") was attracted to Senegal because of its prospective geology and favorable mining laws, and with its partners secured rights to a gold exploration concession in the Sabodala District through an open tender process in 2004. The project is operated by Oromin and held 100% by Oromin Joint Venture Group Ltd. ("OJVG"). Oromin owns 43.5% of OJVG, with the remainder held by two private companies, Bendon International (43.5%) and Badr Investment and Finance (13%).
Opportunity:
Multiple deposits and zones of orogenic gold in an emerging gold-mining district with more than ten million ounces of gold resources defined to date by various operators, including Oromin. MDL plans to expand annual production at its newly commissioned mine (3.5 million ounce gold resource) to about 200,000 ounces of gold by mid-2011. Randgold has advanced its nearby 83%-held Massawa Gold Project to a Feasibility Study (3 million ounce resource @ 3.96 g/t Au) for a proposed combined open-pit and underground mine. Other companies are exploring projects in the Sabodala District, which has geological and structural similarities to prolific producing gold camps in near by Mali.
Project Status:
Oromin has defined nine gold deposits and 18 promising gold targets within a 22-km-long, 5-to-8-km wide, northeast-trending structural corridor at the OJVG Concession. An independent Full Feasibility Study scheduled for completion in mid-2010 will examine fast-track development of a proposed open-pit and underground mine complex, with initial production from five deposits feeding a central, 4,500 TPD carbon-in-leach mill that can be increased to 7,400 TPD when processing soft oxide-saprolite ores. The Government of Senegal has granted OJVG a 15-year renewable Mining License for the Project, a critical milestone.
