B2Gold nearly doubles indicated ounces at Anaconda near Fekola mine

B2Gold (TSX: BTO) has put out a new resource estimate that nearly doubles indicated gold ounces hosted at the Anaconda area, about 20 km from its Fekola mine in Mali.

Indicated resources now total 57.1 million tonnes grading 1.11 grams gold per tonne, for about 2 million gold ounces — an 80% increase over the March 2022 estimate. Resources in the inferred category came to 46.6 million tonnes at 1.33 grams gold, for another 2 million oz. of contained gold.

Included in these estimates is an inaugural sulphide resource of 17.4 million tonnes at 1.40 grams gold for 780,000 oz. of gold in the indicated category and 37.1 million inferred tonnes at 1.44 grams gold for 1.72 million oz. of gold.

The updated Anaconda resource model incorporates 579,933 metres of drilling in 6,669 holes. Assays were capped by mineralization domain, ranging from 1 gram gold to 12 grams gold in the low-grade zones, 2 grams gold to 17 grams gold in the medium-grade zones and 6 grams gold to 35 grams gold in the high-grade zones.

Anaconda consists of the Menankoto, Bantako North and Bakolobi permits.

Optimization work at Anaconda, part of B2Gold’s Fekola complex is underway to maximize the project value from various oxide and sulphide materials. The complex also includes the Fekola mine and the adjacent Cardinal zone on the Medinandi permit, as well as the Dandoko permit.

B2Gold says Anaconda oxide resources and the Dandoko oxide resources will form the basis of the engineering study of a stand-alone mill and oxide processing facilities at Fekola. The mill would constitute the second phase of the Fekola regional development plan. The engineering study will be based on processing 4 million tonnes per annum of oxide resources.

The company’s optimization study analysis indicates that the combined Fekola mine and Fekola regional processing facilities could have the potential to produce more than 800,000 oz. of gold per year from the Fekola complex, subject to delineation of additional mineral resources and development, completion of feasibility studies, and the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals and permits.

Since the assay cut-off date for this resource estimate, B2Gold has continued to expand both oxide and sulphide deposits at the Anaconda area. The 2023 drilling is part of a $35 million exploration program at the Fekola complex. Initial drilling at Anaconda is focused on the Mamba, Adder, Anaconda, Cascabel, Boomslang, Taipan and Cobra zones.