Etruscan Resources Inc. - Samira Hill Gold Mine

Niger

Samira Hill Gold Mine Maps & Photos

February 2005, SME Pager
Niger Project Presentation
(link to PDF)

The Mine

President Gerry McConnell with Hakim Ouazzani (Project Manager) and Ahmed Elarouri (Mine Manager), holding first Samira Hill Gold Bar.

Samira - Etruscan's First Gold Mine

The Samira Hill Gold Mine is the first commercial open pit gold mine in Niger and began operation in September 2004. The pre-production mineable reserves from the Samira Hill and Libiri pits are estimated to total 10.08 million tonnes grading 2.2 grams of gold per tonne from which 618,000 ounces will be recovered over a 6.3 year mine life.

The current mining operation is only processing the near-surface oxide and transition ores from the Samira and Libiri deposits and does not account for the possibility of mining the deeper sulphide ores or additional ores from satellite deposits along the 50 kilometer strike length of the Samira Gold Belt.

Location

The Samira Hill Gold Project encompasses the Samira Hill gold deposit discovered on the Tiawa exploration permit and the Libiri gold deposit (three kilometers from Samira Hill) discovered on the Saoura exploration permit. The Samira Hill Gold Project is located approximately 90 kilometers west of Niamey, the capital city of Niger on the 50 kilometer gold belt commonly referred to as the Samira Horizon. The south-western corner of the property is contiguous with the border of Burkina Faso.

Ownership

The Samira Hill Gold Project is operated under the Nigerien company, Société des Mines du Liptako (SML) S.A. ("SML"). SML is owned 80% by African GeoMin Mining Development Corporation Limited ("AGMDC") and 20% by the State of Niger. AGMDC is in turn owned by Etruscan (50%) and Semafo Inc. (50%). Semafo Inc. is the operator of the Samira Hill Gold Mine.

Production

The first gold ingot from the Samira Hill Gold Mine was poured on September 25, 2004 and commercial production at the Samira Hill Gold Mine commenced on October 1, 2004.

Production Statistics Year ended
Nov 30, 2004 Year ended
Nov 30, 2005 Year ended
Nov 30, 2006 Year ended
Nov 30, 2007

Operating Statistics

Gold sales (ounces) 12,143 95,753 N/A N/A

Gold production (ounces) 18,022 92,270 51,713 76,399

Plant throughput (tonnes) 344,489 1,337,195 911,485 1,433,657

Head-grade (g/t) 2.10 2.36 2.22 1.97

Recovery (%) 89 88 81 84

Cash operating cost (US$/ounce) 210 247 N/A N/A

Forecast production for calendar year 2008 is 70,000 ounces.

click to view enlarged

Samira Gold Belt (see map right)

The Samira Hill and Libiri deposits are just two of a number of significant gold deposits along the 50 kilometer Samira Gold Belt extending into neighbouring Burkina Faso. By constructing a central processing facility at Samira, Etruscan expects to extend the 6.3 year mine life with the development of existing satellite deposits and the discovery of new deposits within easy trucking distance of the existing mill.