Asanko Gold Gets Closer to Phase 2 Permits and Prepares for Production Decision in Q2

POSTED ON April 01, 2014 BY Travis McPherson
CATEGORY Asanko Gold, Companies, PMI Gold, Stories,

Asanko Gold (AKG:TSX) has been able to take advantage of the gold endowments in Ghana, not only by finding and developing the Esaase deposit but also by acquiring a nearby and equally sized development project called Obotan (part of PMI Gold acquisition, now called the Asanko Gold Project). Today, the company announced they received receipt of the environmental invoice and water use permits for the Esaase deposit. This is a positive step in obtaining the final environmental okay from the EPA for Phase 2.

Importantly, this receipt means that Asanko will be able to apply for a temporary mining permit and begin early works to prepare the development site.

Commenting on the announcement, Peter Breese, President and CEO, said: "We are delighted that we have now received our invoice from the EPA and water use permits from the WRC for the Esaase site. This means that in addition to our fully permitted phase 1 project, we now have a second site that has passed the necessary hurdles as required by the Ghanaian regulatory authorities."

Under the new leadership of Peter Breese and Colin Steyn (Chairman), Asanko has been able to progress into the production decision phase quickly. The duo, were both founders of LionOre Mining and Mantra which were both sold to Russian interests for $6 billion and $1 billion, respectively. The two helped Asanko successfully acquire PMI Gold and their Obotan project which now provides the company with a clear pathway to 400,000 ounces of gold production per year.

Each of the projects, now under the Asanko name, have the potential to produce in excess of 200,000 ounces of gold per year (400,000 ounces per year total).

Asanko plans to grow to a mid-tier 400,000 ounce per year gold producer (Source: Asanko Gold)

The leadership at Asanko decided to put Obotan (phase 1) into production prior to Esaase (phase 2) for a number of reasons including the fact that Obotan was permitted and was also the higher margin of the two projects making for slightly better economics.

The company has over 7.5 million ounces of gold (average grade of 1.68g/t gold) in the measured and indicated categories at their combined Asanko Gold Project. They trade at $1.00 per M&I ounce in the ground. This is ridiculously cheap considering they are fully funded, have two 200,000 ounce per year gold projects, are located in a great jurisdiction and are led by some of the best company builders in the business.

They have $270 million in cash and access to another $150 million debt facility (market capitalization of $403 million).

Upcoming Catalysts:

Construction decision (Q2/2014)
Early works of Obotan (Q2/2014)
Finalize financing package (Q2/2014)
Revised resource estimate and updated mine plan (Q2/2014)

Read: Asanko Gold Receives Environmental and Water Approvals for Esaase Site

Travis McPherson

trav@ceo.ca

Travis McPherson

trav@ceo.ca

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