Fortuna crosses the finish line at its Côte d’Ivoire Séguéla mine

Fortuna Silver Mines (NYSE: FSM; TSX: FVI) has poured the first gold pour at its Séguéla mine in Côte d’Ivoire.

Séguéla now enters the ramp-up phase, during which management aims to achieve commercial production in the current quarter. Séguéla is Fortuna’s fifth operating mine.

Canaccord Genuity mining analyst Dalton Baretto says he expects the ramp-up to also proceed smoothly, given how seamlessly the construction was executed.

When fully ramped up, Séguéla will become Fortuna’s largest operating mine, producing more than 100,000 oz. gold per year. In its first full year of operations (2024), Baretto forecasts Séguéla to contribute 41% of Fortuna’s gold output, about half of the company’s EBITDA and about 60% of its free cash flow.

While the mine currently has a short mine life of 10 years, drilling at the Sunbird deposit has recently been wrapped up; the results of that drilling are expected to be incorporated into Fortuna’s year-end reserve and resource update.

The mine is expected to produce between 60,000-75,000 oz. gold in 2023 at an all-in-sustaining cost of between US$880 and US$1,080 per oz. of gold.

Shares of Fortuna Silver rose 0.23% by 12:40 p.m. EDT. The miner has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion.