KEY FACTS

Bankan Gold Project

Location: Kouroussa Prefecture, Guinea

Mine Type: Open pit and underground

Status: Development ready 

Production: 250koz per annum for 12 years

Mineral Resources: 5.53Moz

Ore Reserves: 2.95Moz

Introduction

Bankan is 550km by road from Guinea’s capital Conakry within the region of Upper Guinea, near Kouroussa. It is located ~30km north-west of Kiniéro. PDI’s Bankan permit area covers 356km2 and includes the Bankan Exploitation Permit application (99km2).

Bankan is a Tier-1 gold development project located in north-east Guinea, West Africa. Four deposits have been discovered to date which host a total Mineral Resource of 5.5Moz. The NEB deposit has a 4.9Moz Mineral Resource, making it one of the largest gold discoveries in West Africa in a decade.

The Exploitation Permit application was submitted in January 2025 and is in the final stages of the Government’s review process. Construction is aimed to commence in Q2 2026 enabling the start of commercial production in Q2 2028, with forecast production of ~250,000 ounces of gold per annum over a 12-year mine life.

Geology

The Bankan Gold Project is located on the western margin of the Siguiri Basin, within the Birimian Greenstone Belt of West Africa. The project area is characterised by a sequence of volcanic and sedimentary lithologies, including fine-grained clastic sediments and mafic to intermediate intrusive rocks metamorphosed to greenschist facies, consistent with the broader Siguiri Basin geology. Gold mineralisation at Bankan is hosted within two principal deposits, NEB and BC, discovered in 2020. Mineralisation is structurally controlled and associated with shear zone hosted lodes, occurring within quartz veins and quartz-veined fracture zones. The NEB deposit hosts both open pittable oxide, transitional and fresh mineralisation as well as a high-grade underground resource.

Mining

The Bankan Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) envisages the development of open pit mines at both the NEB and BC deposits, mined in multiple stages using conventional open pit mining methods. The life of mine average open pit grade is 1.39g/t with a strip ratio of 1.9:1, reflecting a highly efficient and low-cost mining operation.

Concurrent with open pit operations, an underground mine at the NEB deposit will be developed from the start of operations to deliver high-grade ore directly to the processing plant throughout the mine life. The NEB underground operation utilises longitudinal and transverse long hole open stoping with paste fill, delivering a life of mine average grade of 3.77g/t. This open pit and underground combination optimises the ore feed profile to the processing plant, enhancing overall project economics and providing meaningful grade flexibility across the mine life.

Processing

A conventional 4.5Mtpa carbon-in-leach (CIL) processing plant is proposed for the Bankan Project, designed to efficiently process both open pit and underground ore feeds.

The processing flowsheet incorporates separate primary crusher and mineral sizer circuits to handle varying ore types across the mine life, followed by a semi-autogenous, ball grinding and pebble crushing (SABC) comminution circuit. Gold recovery is achieved via a combination of gravity concentration and conventional CIL processing to produce gold doré bars on site. The DFS estimates an average processing recovery of 92.8%, based on a grind size of P80 75µm and an average feed grade of 1.86g/t, reflecting the high metallurgical amenability of the Bankan ore. Capital costs for the project were estimated at US$463 million with all-in sustaining costs of US$1,057 per ounce, delivering strong financial metrics and significant leverage to the current gold price environment.                 

Exploration

The Bankan Gold Project has significant exploration upside, and there is excellent potential to increase the Project’s Mineral Resource base and mine life. Numerous near-surface prospects have been identified within 3km of the NEB and BC deposits. Initial drilling has returned encouraging results from multiple targets, highlighting excellent potential for new satellite deposits to be defined over time which can extend the Bankan Project’s mile life.