Interview with Richard Hyde, Managing Director of West African Resources (ASX: WAF, TSX-V: WAF): A Perth-Based Gold Company, Focused on Development of High -Grade Gold Projects in Burkina Faso, West Africa
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By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, USA
on 10/16/2016
West African Resources Limited (ASX: WAF, TSX-V: WAF) is a Perth-based gold company, focused on development of gold projects in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Currently, the company is reviewing feasibility and development options for the Tanlouka Gold Project following extremely high-grade near-surface gold results at a new discovery at the Mankarga 1 South prospect. We learned from Richard Hyde, Managing Director of West African Resources, that the discovery allows them to get started with open pits on some very high grade material which will accelerate the payback and capital. The near-term plans include permitting, finishing the feasibility study, financing and construction. According to Mr. Hyde, they will see first gold pull very late two thousand eighteen or early two thousand and nineteen.
Mankarga 1 South: High grade gold in panned samples from TAN16-RC122 108-109m - 534.45gt Au (ASX TSX-V 15 March 2016)
Dr. Allen Alper: This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-chief of Metals News, interviewing Richard Hyde, managing director of West African Resources. Could you tell our readers and investors what differentiates your company from other junior mining companies?
Mr. Richard Hyde: The main thing that differentiates West African Resources from other juniors out there is that we've managed to keep working through two thousand and fourteen and fifteen when the markets were really tough. That culminated in a higher grade discovery in February, two thousand and sixteen at the Mankarga 1 South project, where we've hit some very, very high grade material. In two thousand and fourteen and fifteen, we were focused on a small project, looking at the oxide proportion of the Mankarga 5 deposit. However, the high grade discovery at Mankarga1 has allowed us to change the scope and scale of the project; given that we found roughly two hundred thousand ounces at about five grams per ton in potentially mineralized material at Mankarga 1 South. Plus another some eighty thousand ounces at Mankarga1 North allows us to get started with open pits on some very high grade material which will accelerate the payback and capital.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds very good. Could you elaborate a bit more on the resources and also on your plans to go forward?
Mr. Richard Hyde: Sure. When we acquired the project in two thousand and fourteen it was a historic resource in Mankarga 5. What we did over two thousand and fourteen and fifteen was upgrade the oxide proportion of that resource and also we completed more definition drilling. The Mankarga 5 resource was the main focus, but in late two thousand and fifteen we made a discovery at Mankarga 3, which is located about nine hundred meters away from Mankarga 5 resource. Earlier this year, in two thousand and sixteen, we made discoveries at what is now called Mankarga 1 South and Mankarga 1 North. All the mineralization is amenable to conventional heap leach processing. All mineralization comes to surface. There's no pre stripping required so all mineralization can be mined initially by open pit means. We think there's good underground potential definitely at Mankarga 1 South and at the southern end of Mankarga 5. There's potential for us to transition in to underground mining later in the project life following mining the open pits.
We think the project should have legs and we think that is should persist at depth.
Dr. Allen Alper: Could you tell me a bit about your background, your team and the board?
Mr. Richard Hyde: I'm a geologist and I graduated in nineteen ninety-five from the University of New England in New South Wales with a major in geology and geophysics. I spent four or five years working in Western Australia in exploration in base metals and gold. Then I spent about six years based in West Africa, working on projects in Mali and Burkina Faso. In fact I was based in Ghana for most of that time. I was working for an Australian group called Regional Service Group. Then in two thousand and seven, I founded West African Resources and listed the company in two thousand and ten. We've been exploring and finding interesting mineralizations and deposits since then. That's my background. The chairman of the company's, Mark Connolly. He was formerly CEO of Adamus Resources and orchestrated the merger between Adamus and Endeavour. Endeavour still has Adamus assets. Following that, he was CEO of Happy Iron which had a very large and high grade coal deposit in Western Mali. Then he was involved with B2, taking over that asset for about six million dollars US. Mark and I have a lot of experience in West Africa. We've put together a feasibility team with a lot of experience in developing projects as well. Lyndon Hopkins is our project manager. He formerly worked with Equigold and Regis Resources here in Australia and was a project manager in Ivory Coast in the early two thousands. He's running our feasibility study.
Vincent Morel's our exploration manager, he has over twenty five years’ experience, mostly in West Africa. He's worked also for Regional Service Group, the same group that I used to work for and Randgold as well. Finally, Pierre Tapsoba is our national director and he is a very important part of our team. He's a former minister in Burkina Faso, he also has a PHD in Geology. He was responsible for a lot of the early exploration work in Burkina Faso in quarry ground and attracting foreign companies to come and invest in Burkina. He's a very enthusiastic individual, who's really been pushing foreign investment in Burkina for a number of years.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent. That's a very strong team. Could you tell me a bit about your Share and Capital Structure and finances?
Mr. Richard Hyde: Sure. Currently, we have about 450 million shares at issue. We have no debt and we have about twenty-one million dollars in the bank at the present time. This year we've completed two capital raisings. We've raised about thirty-five million Australian dollars. We have twenty-one million Australian dollars in the bank at the moment. We've been very well supported by funds out of Australia and also funds out of North America. Currently our largest shareholder is the Dynamic Precious Metals Fund out of Toronto.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds very good. Could you tell me a bit more about your upcoming plans for the remainder of sixteen and seventeen?
Mr. Richard Hyde: Sure. Under the previous plan to develop the heap leaches project, we've completed quite a lot of feasibility work on that process. We've also applied for our mining license and environmental permit in late October of two thousand and fifteen. We are still carrying on our permitting process and we expect to receive our mining license before the end of this year. It will require an update for change of scope of process from heap leaching to CIL. Also, we plan to finish a feasibility study that will see us be a hundred and fifty thousand ounce a year producer. That's what we think is achievable from the project. Our main goal is to have the project permitted and to have completed a feasibility study supporting our aspirational target by the end of this year. Early next year, we can commence discussions with the banks and financiers to fund the project. On that timeline, we would look to spend the first half of next year financing the project, followed by early works and construction in late two thousand and seventeen, early two thousand and eighteen. That would have us looking at first gold pull very late two thousand eighteen or early two thousand and nineteen.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent! That's really very good. What are the primary reasons our high-net-worth readers/investors should consider investing in your company?
Mr. Richard Hyde: Well I think firstly, the management is invested in the company. I have sixteen point three million shares and four million options in West African Resources. It's virtually all of my net worth. It obviously gets all of my focus. The project we have is in a very good jurisdiction. Burkina Faso's permitted more mines in the last ten years than other gold jurisdictions globally. Our project will have very low costs and a very robust mine plan. We think we'll be able to achieve our aspirational target of being a hundred and fifty ounce a year gold producer.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds very promising. A good company to look at closely.
Mr. Richard Hyde: We've been very successful explorers and very determined, even through the recent downturns, 2014-2015 and 2007-2008. We've been persistent. We haven't stopped working, we haven't stopped drilling. I think that's put us at an advantage because we've come into a very good gold market in two thousand and sixteen, with an advanced project that should be shovel ready by the end of two thousand and sixteen and ready to finance. Even at lower prices through the downturn, we put equity to work and we've made some very good discoveries.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds very good. I think you did the right thing.
http://www.westafricanresources.com/
14 Southbourne Street
Scarborough WA 6019
Australia
Nathan Ryan
T: +61 (0) 420 582 887
info@westafricanresources.com
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