• Yaouré underground extension budget raised from $124M to $170M, up 36%
• Operations to begin in Q1 2026, earlier than the initially planned second half
• Project depends on approval of environmental and social impact assessment

Perseus Mining announced its final decision in January to build an underground extension at the Yaouré gold mine in Côte d’Ivoire. The project, originally budgeted at $124 million, is intended to keep the mine in operation until 2035.

The company has since revised the project’s cost to $170 million, marking a 36 percent increase over the initial estimate. The update was disclosed in Perseus Mining’s five-year production plan released on June 11. According to the report, "development capital for CMA Underground has increased due to bringing forward underground development into the precommercial production period and updated capitalisation methodology to include royalties and G&A previously expensed”.

Mining operations are now scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2026, earlier than the previously expected second half of the year. The underground project is expected to contribute about 50 percent of the mine's total gold output and support Perseus’s target to produce between 870,000 and 905,000 ounces of gold from 2026 to 2030.

Perseus also stated it holds a strong financial position, with $1.1 billion in cash and unused credit facilities, enough to cover operating expenses across its assets for the next five years. However, the start of the Yaouré underground development still depends on approval from Ivorian authorities for its environmental and social impact assessment.

The company previously confirmed in January that the assessment had been submitted and was under review by the Ivorian Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development, and Ecological Transition. No update has been provided since.