African Consolidated Resources plc has declared an ore reserve estimate of 16.6Mt, containing 1.02Moz at 1.9g/t, and an updated resource of 62.0Mt containing 3.56Moz at 1.8g/t - both in accordance with JORC (2012 edition) - for its flagship Pickstone Peerless Gold Project in Zimbabwe.

 

In a corporate update accompanying the reserve and resource declarations, the company says a due diligence exercise is currently under way with a major African bank for a debt facility to fully finance the expansion of Pickstone Peerless from 20 000 tpm (Stage 1) to 50 000 tpm (Stage 2).

 

The company is currently engaging with a number of interested parties to secure equity for the Stage 1 plant construction.  These talks are at advanced stages and the company hopes to report positive results in due course. Debt financing pre-conditions include AFCR raising equity for the Stage 1 plant construction, estimated to be approximately $30 million. 

 

A detailed indigenisation plan has been drafted and its submission to the relevant Zimbabwean authority is imminent. 

Tags: Gold,