Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) has committed $34 million to drilling at its Yaouré Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire, as positive reconciliation and underground progress drive expansion plans.
The Yaouré open pit delivered 24% more metal than the reserve model over the six months to March 2026, with additional mineralisation domains being defined through grade control drilling.
CMA underground operations are transitioning to production, with initial stoping operations commencing in late April 2026.
Perseus achieved a development record of 1,598m during the March quarter and has mobilised a third jumbo to increase future ore delivery.
“Yaouré continues to demonstrate why it is a cornerstone asset in our portfolio,” Managing Director Craig Jones says.
“The successful transition of CMA Underground into stoping operations reflects the strength of our in-house team and their ability to execute complex underground developments safely and to schedule.
“Equally pleasing is the performance of the Yaouré open pit, which has now delivered more than 20% additional gold relative to our Reserve model year to date, while our drilling continues to define new mineralisation domains both at depth and along strike.”
The positive reconciliation trend stems from additional mineralisation identified during grade control drilling compared to the ore reserve model.
In the March quarter, the ore reserve to mill reconciliation achieved a 149% increase in tonnage with a minor grade variance at 93%, resulting in a 139% contained gold increase.
Recent drilling highlights from the Yaouré open pit include 8m at 7.35 grams per tonne gold (Au) from 126m in hole YRC3364, including 3m at 18.7g/t Au, and 2m at 15.19g/t Au from 40m in YRC3367.
Extension drilling at CMA underground returned 13.9m at 2.65g/t Au from 742.5m in hole YDD0713, including 4.5m at 4.49g/t Au, while YDD0714 intersected 17.25m at 2.23g/t Au from 620.75m.
Beyond the boundary fence, hole YRC3423 at CMA Southwest returned 40m at 2.26g/t Au from 92m, including 16m at 4.59g/t Au from 97m.
Building on Yaouré’s momentum
Since the initial ore reserve of 1.52 million ounces (Moz), Yaouré has achieved a 76% Ore Reserve replacement rate, maintaining 1.444Moz despite 1.24Moz of mining depletion.
The sustained exploration success has extended the operation’s mine life from the original nine years to 15 years.
The $34 million drilling program will complete approximately 123km of resource definition, geotechnical, and metallurgical drilling across the project, focusing on converting inferred resources to indicated.
An updated ore reserve statement will be released in August 2026.
Perseus Mining is an African gold producer with operating mines in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, and development projects in Burkina Faso.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: Perseus Mining
