Properties

Orezone has focused its exploration in West Africa as this region offers relatively unexplored geological potential as well as near-surface oxidized deposits that can be explored and developed at a low cost. Burkina Faso is the country with the greatest untested potential in West Africa and it is here that Orezone has acquired a strategic land position.

Why Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso is located in West Africa one of the world’s fastest growing gold producing region. Located between Ghana and Mali, the second and third largest gold producing countries in Africa, it has the same age and type of rocks as its neighbours but it is still relatively unexplored. The terrain of the country is flat making it much more accessible and its climate is arid which has resulted in the oxidization of near surface material. These two aspects make it easier to make discoveries and less expensive to bring discoveries into production, two important factors in developing mining projects.

Orezone accumulated a strategic land position in the country during the periods when there was very little interest in gold projects. Between 1997 and 2001 gold production was declining in many countries (view chart) However, in West Africa, growth in gold production shot up 56% because of its favourable geology, modern mining codes, political stability, reasonable fiscal and taxation regimes as well as government support of the development of natural resources. Discoveries were not only made, they were brought into production in a timely and efficient manner and to accepted international environmental standards. This period of growth resulted in Ghana and Mali becoming the second and third largest gold producing countries in Africa.

Burkina Faso was not part of this boom even though it is located between Ghana and Mali. A study by BRGM, a French government agency which does geological surveys in developing countries, concluded that Burkina Faso has the same age and type of rocks as Ghana and Mali. Interest in Burkina Faso’s resource potential is growing and it is now attracting the interest of mining companies because it is a politically stable democracy with good infrastructure and an updated French-based mining code. As a result Burkina Faso is on pace to become the fourth largest gold producing country in Africa by 2011.