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o c t o b e r / n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 6 www.resourceworld.com 37 P erth-based West African Resources [WAF-TSXV; ASX] is making progress towards production at its 100%-owned Tanlouka Project in Burkina Faso. The com- pany announced August 18 that it had raised A $21M through the placement of 70,000,000 shares at A $0.30, which was only a 7% discount to the weighted aver- age price. Funds will be used to complete a Definitive Feasibility Study by year end, pay down an A $5.5M debt facility and begin infrastructure work at the project. West African's success in a challenging market came on the back of an announce- ment on August 1 of a substantial upgrade in resources at Tanlouka. The deposits at the project are M1, M3 and M5. An N1 43-101 and JORC Code compliant report by International Resources Solutions Pty recently provided maiden resource estimates for the M1 and M3 prospects and an updated resource estimate for the M5 deposit. The company said that the Tanlouka resources now sit at 9.8Mt tonnes at 2.1 g/t gold for 670,000 ounces of gold (indicated) and a further 10.7Mt tonnes at 2.0 g/t gold for 695,000 ounces of gold (inferred). The report showed a 34% increase in indicated resources. The company intends to report a further resource update for M1 later this year after a 10,000-metre drilling campaign to test mineralization down to 300 vertical metres. A recent presentation by the com- pany, at the Diggers and Dealers forum in Kalgoorlie in July, focused on the Tanlouka Project being shovel ready by the end of 2016. At this stage the company is looking at a throughput of 2.3Mtpa. The excellent drilling results at the M1 and M5 deposits have West African Resources looking at open pit development. Results released on July 28 showed step-out drilling at M1 North has intercepted min- eralization 50 metres north of the current resource area, returning 8 metres of 2.71 g/t gold. West African CEO, Richard Hyde, also noted that "strong results have also been returned from resource definition drilling at M5 including 41 metres of 2.2 g/t gold including 8 metres oft 5.7 g/t gold." The company's aim is to be in production by 2018 and at the current rate of develop- ment this seems a realistic target. Some investors get wary of West African locations like Burkina Faso but the fact that the recent placement was oversubscribed and the West African Resources share price is up over 450% since the start of 2016 shows there is plenty of appetite for the risk. It helps that the project is located in a gold district. The rising gold price is also helping sentiment for companies like West African Resources. The issues confronting West African Resources in terms of possible development hurdles at this stage seem under control. The company has recently announced that Burkina Faso's Ministry of Environment, Green Economy and Climate Change has "delivered a favourable opinion of the company's Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) and the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) in relation to the min- ing permit application" for the project. The next step is a mining permit. n Australian Update by Greg Barns West African Resources looking good in Burkina Faso