Ann: Turaco to Acquire Interest in Afema Gold Project, page-5

I’ve had a theory for a while that the consolidation of West African producers in the last few years, and the lack of new companies willing to venture into perceived volatile countries, has meant there is a gap in the market for small development projects in the 100-150kozpa category. Perseus, WAF etc want bigger projects now. Small projects in West Africa can still be quite profitable because the grade and metallurgy is often high enough that a small mill can pump out good ounces and be economic.

This project reminds me of Seguela which was originally a sub-scale Newcrest property with good hits, which they divested to Roxgold about 5 years ago. Roxgold was then acquired by Fortuna Silver which built Seguela this year and now coming in with some good production numbers.

Endeavour and B2Gold have both shown with their divestments that they pick credible teams who they believe can build value. The fact that Turaco have had the opportunity to buy this is a decent endorsement of their team.