Firefinch executive chair shows further confidence in company with another on-market share purchase

The Morila Gold Mine completed the first month of production under the company’s ownership in November and Firefinch plans to define milestones on the path to resume open pit mining in the coming months.

An updated mineral resource estimate for the Morila deposit is expected in early 2021

Firefinch Ltd (ASX:FFX) (OTCMKTS:EEYMF) (FRA:N9F) executive chairman Dr Alistair Cowden has displayed further faith in the company with another on-market share purchase.

Last month Dr Cowden purchased 750,000 shares worth a total of $113,017.71 and today purchased another 500,000 shares for total consideration of $70,700.

He now holds a total of 6.25 million shares in the company.

Morila Gold Mine

The Morila Gold Mine in Mali completed its first month of production under Firefinch ownership in November, treating 544,714 tonnes of tailings at a grade of 0.46 g/t gold and produced 4,130 ounces of gold at a recovery of 51%.

The tailings treatment operations are forecast to produce 4,000 to 4,100 ounces of gold in December and 10,000 to 10,500 ounces of gold in the first quarter of 2021.

Future exploration will focus on growing the Project resource, defining resources at the Morila satellite pits and the Koting discovery as well as testing multiple high-value targets on the 685 square kilometres of combined tenure.

An updated mineral resource estimate for the Morila deposit is expected in early 2021.

Open pit mining

The company is applying cash flow from the tailings operations to fund capital works and studies to enable the restart of open pit mining at Morila.

These activities include:

• Mine planning: Developing a mine plan and schedule for the Morila satellite pits and tender for mining contractors;
• Tailings and water management: Reconfiguring the tailings storage facility to cease depositing tailings in the Morila pit and deposit tailings within the existing tailings storage facility footprint and dewatering of the pit;
• Plant: Refurbishment of the processing plant;
• Satellite Drilling: Drilling at satellite pits to improve confidence and potentially increase resources;
• Potential new ore feed: Evaluating stockpiles and potential remnant shallow mineralisation adjacent to the Morila pit evident from new data; and
• Exploration Drilling: Aircore drilling of targets on the Morila lease and on the adjacent Massigui Project.