(Ecofin Agency) - In 2022, Senegal’s industrial mines produced 15 tons of gold. With this output, it is far from rivaling with Mali or Côte d’Ivoire. However, several investments in exploration could soon push the country among West Africa’s top gold producers.

Cora Gold will soon start a 2,000 m Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling program in Senegal. The British firm announced the news on April 8, 2024, emphasizing that the program should begin in mid-April and end in mid-May of this year. The program is at Cora’s Madina Foulbé gold permit within the Kenieba Project Area in east Senegal. The mine is 27 km west of the Sadiola gold mine in Mali. 

#Cora is pleased to announce an exploration drill programme at our Madina Foulbé gold permit within the Kenieba Project Area in east Senegal - in close proximity to several Tier 1 #gold deposits.

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW:

● 2,000m Reverse Circulation (‘RC’) drilling programme to… pic.twitter.com/L5K7FmFaUy

— Cora Gold (@cora_gold) April 8, 2024

“We are delighted to restart work at Madina Foulbé, where previous exploration works only scratched the surface in terms of evaluating the potential size and scale of the in-situ gold mineralisation,” commented Bert Monro, CEO of Cora. 

The Madina Foulbé permit had indeed undergone exploration work between 2018 and 2020, with gold intercepts at shallow depths and grades ranging from 0.47 g/t of gold to 16.4 g/t of gold. Now, Cora wants to test targets for potential resource definition drilling.

Though not yet among Africa’s top gold producers (with an industrial output of 15 t in 2022), Senegal attracted substantial investments in recent years. In 2023, Fortuna Silver Mines, a Canadian firm, acquired $60 million Chesser Resources and its Senegalese gold project, Diamba Sud. Endeavour Mining also kicked off a $300 million investment at the country’s largest mine in 2022. The project could increase the country’s output starting this quarter.

Several junior mining companies are also active in gold exploration in Senegal, and the success of their various projects could significantly increase the country's gold production and mining contribution to the economy. 

Gold mining dominates Senegal’s extractive sector. According to the  Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the sub-sector accounted for 4.5% of GDP, 6.85% of state revenues, and 32.16% of exports in 2022.

Emiliano Tossou