Cora Gold Limited (LON:CORA), the West African focused gold company, has provided an update on the progress of the Front-End Engineering Design (‘FEED’) process and early works programme at the Company’s flagship Sanankoro Gold Project in southern Mali as it moves towards construction.
Highlights
● FEED process, led by New SENET (Pty) Ltd (‘SENET’; a DRA Global group company), advancing well with many workflows, including 3D plant modelling and all field work, now concluded.
● Key equipment suppliers engaged across the comminution, carbon in leach (‘CIL’) and elution circuit, with design information feeding directly into the FEED process.
● Key facilities supplier negotiations in progress for the supply of the main infrastructure, including buildings and new mining camp.
● Geotechnical drilling and test excavations completed at the process plant and power station areas to support detailed foundation design.
● Tailings storage facility (‘TSF’) land compensation process has been completed, with final geotechnical work due to commence imminently on the TSF site.
● Exploration camp upgrade completed, including new security perimeter fencing, refurbished accommodation and upgraded facilities, readying the site for the next phase of activity.
Bert Monro, Chief Executive Officer of Cora Gold, commented: “Sanankoro is rapidly moving towards construction readiness, with the FEED going very well and all field work now completed. 3D plant modelling has now been completed, and key equipment suppliers are actively engaged on comminution, CIL and elution circuit packages.
“Alongside the engineering work, the exploration camp upgrade is complete, providing a suitable base for the next phase of activity. The TSF land compensation process is complete, and we are due to commence further geotechnical work at site, in advance of the final detailed design, imminently. These parallel work streams are designed to compress the timeline to first gold once we are in receipt of the mining permit.
“This work is progressing in tandem with our resource expansion work, which has yielded highly positive initial results. The programme is targeting extensions to existing deposits and near-mine greenfield targets, with the aim of expanding the current JORC-compliant mineral resource of over one million ounces. This is setting the stage for a low-cost, high-margin, long-life mine at Sanankoro and we continue to engage actively with the Government of Mali and look forward to sharing further progress on permitting in the near future.”
FEED Progress
The FEED process, announced in May 2026 and led by SENET, is progressing well and work remains on target to be completed in Q4 2026. Updated technical proposals and design information have been submitted to SENET, enabling good progress with 3D plant modelling and selective detailed drawing development across all major process areas, including the run-of-mine (‘ROM’) area, crushing and transfer to milling, the scrubber and ball mill circuit, the CIL and elution circuits, including the carbon regeneration circuit.
Design input has been received from key equipment suppliers, including for the mineral sizer, rotary drum scrubber and ball mill. This supplier engagement is progressing in parallel with the FEED process to support long lead item decision-making once the mining permit is received.
Metallurgical verification test work to confirm the comminution circuit design is underway at Independent Metallurgical Operations Pty Ltd (‘IMO’; an SGS group company) laboratories in Perth, Australia. The test programme covers bulk and variability composite characterisation, scrubber optimisation, gravity concentration and cyanide leach testing.
Geotechnical drilling and test excavations have been completed at the process plant and power station areas, to provide foundation design parameters for the FEED.
Pre-Construction Activities
Alongside the FEED process, the Company is advancing a number of pre-construction work streams to ensure Sanankoro is ready to move into full construction as quickly as possible once the mining permit is received.
The land compensation process for the TSF area, covering 174 hectares, has been completed. The Company is about to commence final geotechnical work on the TSF site in advance of detailed design.
The exploration camp upgrade has now been completed with works including the installation of a new security perimeter fence and gates, refurbishment of accommodation blocks, new ceilings, doors and painting throughout, upgraded ablution facilities, and the installation of additional water storage capacity. The upgraded camp provides a suitable operational base as Sanankoro transitions into the construction phase.
Permitting
The Company continues to engage actively with the Government of Mali on the exploitation permit application and the permit reshaping exercise to consolidate all mining infrastructure under a single mining permit area. As announced by the Company on 24 August 2026, Mali’s Council of Ministers has approved the first interim renewal of the Sanankoro II exploration permit, representing a positive step in this process.
