Corrected: Canada's Roxgold officially opens Ivory Coast gold mine

Fortuna Mining

15/09/2023 16:08

(Corrects Sept. 15 story to clarify Roxgold is a subsidiary of
Fortuna and Jorge Ganoza is CEO of Fortuna not Roxgold)
       SEGUELA, Ivory Coast, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Canada's
Roxgold, a subsidiary of Fortuna Silver Mines  FVI.TO , on
Friday opened its gold mine in the north-western region of Ivory
Coast, aiming to produce about 130,000 ounces of gold per year,
the company said on Friday. 
    "We have more than 10 years of mining production ahead of us
at Seguela and our ambition is to continue exploring and
developing here," Jorge Ganoza, Fortuna's CEO, told reporters. 
    The Seguela gold mine is about 500 km north of the
commercial capital Abidjan.  
    Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, is seeking to
develop the West African country's long-neglected mining sector
to diversify its sources of income. 
    Gold output is expected to reach 50 tonnes per year, from 48
tonnes in 2022, said Ivory Coast's mines minister, Mamadou
Sangafowa Coulibaly. 
    He added the company had invested about 78 billion CFA
francs ($127 million) to build the mine. 
    The minister said one gold mine would be inaugurated in
November in the centre-western region of Daloa and another one
next year in the northeast town of Dabakala. 
    Mining companies also operating in Ivory Coast include
Barrick Gold  ABX.TO , Endeavour  EDV.AX  and Perseus mining
 PRU.AX .

($1 = 612.0000 CFA francs)

 (Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Editing by Anait
Miridzhanian and David Evans)
 ((Anait.Miridzhanian@thomsonreuters.com;))