Cora Gold is making progress towards developing its Sanankoro Gold Project in southern Mali, with engineering work advancing, funding arrangements in place and a drilling programme identifying further resource potential.
Sanankoro is the company’s flagship asset and has a resource of more than one million ounces of gold, including a reserve of approximately 530,000 ounces at a grade of just over 1.1g/t. The reserve supports an estimated mine life of 10 years, with a strip ratio of less than 5:1.
The project has an estimated development cost of $124 million. Cora has secured a $120 million gold streaming agreement with Eagle Eye Asset Holdings and raised nearly £60 million through an equity placing earlier in 2026. The company is also exploring the option of replacing half of the streaming agreement with conventional senior debt, with discussions involving several banks, mainly in West Africa.
Engineering work is progressing through the front-end engineering and design (FEED) stage, with Senet appointed as the engineering partner. The planned processing facility will use conventional gravity recovery and carbon-in-leach technology. A scrubber circuit is expected to reduce the amount of material passing through the ball mill, helping to limit power requirements. Cora is also planning a hybrid solar and diesel power system to reduce diesel consumption and operating costs.
The development plan estimates that construction could take between 16 and 18 months from commencement to first gold pour. Completing the FEED work ahead of the mining permit is intended to help shorten the period between receiving approval and starting construction.
Cora has already secured the renewal of the Sanankoro 2 exploration permit, which contains approximately 98% of the project’s current resources. Further permit renewals are required before the company can complete the licence restructuring process and obtain the mining permit. The process follows delays caused by a moratorium on permits while Mali introduced its revised mining code.
Cora Gold Ltd (LON:CORA), together with its subsidiaries, explores for and develops mineral projects in West Africa. The company primarily explores for gold deposits. Its flagship project is the Sanankoro Gold project located in the Yanfolila Gold Belt, Southern Mali.
