West African Resources’ Sanbrado Gold Operations are located ~90km east-southeast of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. The company has a 90% interest in Sanbrado, with the Government of Burkina Faso holding a 10% interest (free carried).

WAF poured first gold at Sanbrado in March 2020, six months ahead of schedule and US$20m under budget. Since then, the company has achieved five consecutive years of meeting or beating guidance at Sanbrado.

In March 2026, WAF released an updated 10-year production outlook, which extended Sanbrado’s mine plan to 2036 with gold production projected to average over 250,000oz per annum over the period.

Mining activities in 2026 will continue to focus on the M5 North open pit, which is scheduled to provide the majority of mill feed to the Sanbrado process plant while pre‑stripping activities at Toega progress.

With production to commence from the Toega open pit and the M5 underground deposits in 2026, production at Sanbrado is expected to build toward this level from 2027 onwards as ore from Toega progressively displaces lower grade M5 North material from the process feed. Production from the M5 South Underground is also forecast to increase as stoping ramps up towards steady state production in 2027.

Growth activities

WAF’s +100,000m drilling program in 2026 will include:

  • 11,000m surface drilling at M5 North targeting additional resource and reserve growth
  • 13,500m drilling at Toega converting the inferred resource and extending resource at depth.

To read more, we encourage you to view our latest investor presentation or 10-year production target announcement.

West African Resources poured first gold ahead of schedule and under budget at its Kiaka Gold Project in June 2025.

Kiaka (85% owned by WAF, 15% Burkina Faso Government) is 45km south of West African’s flagship Sanbrado Gold Operations in Burkina Faso and about 110km southeast of the capital Ouagadougou.

Kiaka gold production is expected to average over 270,000oz per annum over WAF’s 10-year mine plan. Actual performance of the Kiaka process plant to date has demonstrated that throughput and recoveries have exceeded feasibility assumptions, allowing for an updated production schedule.

Additionally, secondary crushing is planned for installation in 2028, which is expected to increase fresh ore throughput to 12 Mtpa from 2028 onwards. Further debottlenecking initiatives have been identified since start‑up in June 2025 and are planned to be progressively implemented.

Open pit mining activities at Kiaka will remain focused on the Kiaka Main Stage 1 pit throughout 2026, with mining at the ancillary pits Kiaka South and Kiaka Central scheduled to continue. The Kiaka South pit is expected to deliver higher-grade mill feed, while the completion of the Kiaka Central pit will provide additional water storage capacity for the process plant.

Growth activities

WAF has planned a drill program to target mineralisation beneath the current open pit Ore Reserve, designed to assess the potential for open pit expansion or the development of a large‑scale underground operation following completion of the open pit.

Below: First gold at Kiaka; Executive Director & COO Lyndon Hopkins and Executive Chairman & CEO Richard Hyde with first Kiaka gold bar.

West African’s Toega deposit is within trucking distance (13km southwest) of the company’s Sanbrado Gold Operations and will be a satellite mining operation, providing seven years of ore feed to the Sanbrado processing plant.

The Toega Gold Deposit has a strike of more than 1,200m, is up to 430m wide and has been drilled to a depth of 400m below surface. Toega’s open pit has a Mineral Resource Estimate of 11 million tonnes at 1.7 g/t gold for 600,000oz gold and an underground resource of 5.0Mt at 3.5 g/t gold for 560,000 oz gold.

A mining license for Toega’s open pit has been granted, and it will commence production in 2026, providing a higher-grade ore source to supplement M5 North.

Construction activities at Toega remain on schedule, with first gold scheduled for Q3 2026.

Mineral Resources

West African Resources released an updated 2025 Resources, Reserves and 10-year production outlook in March 2026.

West African Group Mineral Resources (December 2025)

 

Ore Reserves Update

The Ore Reserves statement is reported according to the JORC Code 2012. The gold price assumption of US$2000/oz used for open-pit and underground Ore Reserve estimation is higher than the gold price assumption used for 2024.

10-Year Production Outlook

WAF’s updated 10-year production target is is an average 533,000oz per annum from years 2026 to 2035. From years 2027 to 2035 the target maintains continuous annual production above 500,000 oz, peaking at 596,000 oz in 2030.

The Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves underpinning the production target were prepared by Competent Persons in accordance with the JORC Code 2012.

West African Group 10 Year Production Target including Inferred Mineral Resources – Ore Tonnes by Project

All tables – Tonnes, grade and contained metal have been rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimates. Rounding errors may occur.There is a low level of geological confidence associated with Inferred Mineral Resources, and there is no certainty that further exploration work will result in the determination of Indicated Mineral Resources or that the production target itself will be realised.