Dynacor Gold Mines, an ore purchasing and processing company servicing artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM), has announced the completion of its due diligence phase to expand its ore processing business to an international level.

The move will see the company build an ore processing pilot plant operation in Senegal.

Based on the due diligence phase’s positive results, a new company to be created will move forward on the construction of this plant. In addition to executing complete tests of the plant operation, the new company will develop trusting working relationships with the ASMs and encourage their participation in the PX IMPACT® clean gold program, Dynacor said.

“This initiative expands on the successes of the previous due diligence phase, which began with the arrival of Dynacor’s technical team sent to evaluate the gold potential and ASM industry in February 2018,” it said. “Starting with a pilot plant is an important step to laying the foundation for a more extensive full-scale operation.”

In June 2019, the company said the initial plan was to build a 100-150 t/d facility, costing some $10 million, with the design to double capacity to 300 t/d.

Dynacor is to operate the plant and own the majority of the new company with 51% ownership. KN Equipments Inc, a Quebec-based company specialising in the design, manufacturing and distribution of mining equipment, and Fonds Souverain d’Investissements Stratégiques (FONSIS) of Senegal will hold the balance at 25% and 24%, respectively.

Three alluvial ASM properties in the state of Kedougou are part of the pilot plant program: Kharakhena, Tinkoto and Bantaco. These areas of interest provided samples to collect and to review the materials from the artisanal miners working in the pits at depths of 15-70 m.

The samples assaying greater than 2 g/t Au for each of the three areas, had average assay grades of 18.19 g/t Au for Kharakhena, 29.07 g/t Au for Bantaco, and 9.72 g/t Au for Tinkoto. The three areas, Kharakhena, Bantaco and Tinkoto, had 55 rock samples assaying greater than 2 g/t Au over 108 rock samples from the pits. The maximum assays from the three areas were 701 g/t Au (Kharakhena), 112 g/t Au (Bantaco), and 27.7 g/t Au (Tinkoto).

The material is to be supplied by the local miners from the three regions, Tinkoto, Bantaco and Kharakhena.

In addition to the three ASM properties, there are twenty other significant ASM areas, including seven sites at Kharakhena, eight sites at Tinkoto and five sites at Bantaco.

“There is a high probability that they will supply gold ore to Dynacor,” the company said.

A satellite imagery study by Japosat Satellite Mapping discovered 76 additional ASM operations signalling the future potential to grow Dynacor’s Senegal ore processing division into a much higher capacity, according to the company.

Jean Martineau, President and CEO of Dynacor, said: “We are excited to execute on our strategy of expanding Dynacor’s proven business model into the international market. Besides the significant operational growth potential, which will stem from the Senegal operation, we are very proud to be the first and only company on a global scale to offer our ore processing service and PX IMPACT clean gold program to the ASM community.”

At present, Dynacor produces and explores in Peru (pictured), where, in 2019, it produced 80,677 oz of gold.