As a general
rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information
Burkina Faso is a
landlocked country in West Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to
the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the
south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.
focusonforests.org
Burkina is
274,000 km² with a population of plus 15 million it’s people
belong to one of two major West African cultural groups - the Voltaic and the
Mande.
Formerly called
the Republic of Upper Volta (The country owes its former name of Upper Volta
to three rivers which cross it: the Black Volta (or Mouhoun), the White Volta
(Nakambé) and the Red Volta (Nazinon). It was renamed Burkina Faso in
August 1984 - meaning "the land of upright people" in
Mòoré and Dioula, the two major native languages of the
country. Figuratively Burkina may be translated as "men of
integrity" from the Mòoré language and "Faso"
means "father's house" in Dioula.
After gaining
independence from France in 1960 the country is now a semi-presidential
republic. The parliament consists of one chamber known as the National
Assembly, it has 111 seats with members elected to serve five year terms.
There is a constitutional chamber with ten members and an economic and social
council whose roles are purely consultative. Burkina Faso is divided into
thirteen regions, forty-five provinces, and 301 departments.
Burkina Faso's
capital is Ouagadougou. It is a member of the African Union, Community of
Sahel-Saharan States, La Francophonie, Organization of the Islamic Conference
and Economic Community of West African States.
Burkina Faso is
made up of two major types of terrane. The larger part of the country is
covered by a peneplain (land worn down by erosion almost to a level plain - a
nearly flat land surface) which forms a gently undulating landscape with a
few isolated hills. The southwest of the country is a sandstone massif, where
the highest peak, Ténakourou, is 749 meters tall. The average altitude
of Burkina Faso is 400 meters - the difference between the highest and lowest
terrain is only 600 meters.
Burkina Faso has
a tropical climate with two seasons – wet and dry. During the rainy
season the country receives 600 to 900 millimeters of rainfall, the rainy
season lasts four or five months, starting in May/June and it rains, off and
on, till September. In the dry season, the harmattan – a hot dry wind
coming from the Sahara desert – blows.
Burkina Faso's
natural resources include manganese, limestone, marble, phosphates, pumice,
salt and gold, there are currently operating copper, iron, manganese and gold
mines in the country.
Burkina Facts:
- The
inhabitants of Burkina Faso are known as Burkinabè.
- Agriculture
represents 32% of its gross domestic product
- A large part
of the economic activity of the country is funded by international aid
- Burkina Faso
is one of the poorest countries in the world - per capita gross domestic
product (GDP) = $440
- More than
80% of the population relies on subsistence agriculture
- Drought,
poor soil, lack of adequate communications and other infrastructure, a
low literacy rate, and an economy vulnerable to external shocks are all
longstanding and ongoing problems
- Many
Burkinabe migrate to neighboring countries for work sending substantial
amounts of money back home - these remittances provide a contribution to
the economy's balance of payments that is second only to cotton as a
source of foreign exchange earnings
- The currency
of Burkina Faso is the CFA franc
- Burkina Faso
is one of the few West African countries that's not predominantly Muslim
- A railway
connects Burkina with the port of Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, 1,150
kilometers (712 mi.) away
- Primary
roads between main towns in Burkina Faso are paved
- Phones and
Internet service providers are relatively reliable, but the cost of
utilities is very high
Burkina is
attempting to improve its economy by:
- developing its mineral resources
- Improving its infrastructure
- Making its
agricultural and livestock sectors more productive and competitive
- Stabilizing
the supplies and prices of food grains
- Implementing
a fairly widespread privatization program
- Adhering to
strict policy rules set out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and
the World Bank (WB)
Economic growth
has averaged around 6% per year for the last 15 years.
Burkina Faso also
has a new investment code that is helping to promote foreign investment.
Reforms include:
- The adoption
of a labor code in May 2008
- Improving
the process to transfer property
- The
elimination of commune authorization requirement
The
creation of a one-stop shop to facilitate construction permit
- A decrease
of the corporate tax rate from 35% to 30%
- A decrease
on dividend taxes from 15% to 12%
- Implementing
major changes to the tax system
- Creating a
number of ‘mining friendly’ programs with the specific aim
of attracting new mining and development companies
- Announcing
their intention to set up a ‘mining development fund’ with
Groupement des Professionnels Miniers (GPMB) behind the move, specific
details have yet to be released
- Building a
higher education institute for mining engineers and other executives
“Gold
production in Burkina Faso more than doubled from 2008 to 2009. The entire
mining sector in the country is booming. The strongest increase in any sector
during 2009 has been in gold production. Thanks to a strongly growing price
of precious metals on the world market during recent years the mining and
extractive industries are experiencing a real boom in Burkina Faso. The
number of permits and authorizations issued rose from 537 in 2008 to 599 in
2009, an increase of 11.6 percent. The industrial production of gold has
risen from about 5,000 kg in 2008 to 11,642 kg in 2009, representing more
than a doubling of production. These development should be helping to
strengthen the position of our country as a mining country.”Condensed
from Prime Minister Tertius Zongo’s state-of-the-nation speech to the
Ouagadougou parliament
Burkina Faso is
now at the start of a mining boom. Looking to take advantage of the countries
abundant natural resources, the number of ‘mining friendly’
programs the country has to offer and hoping to benefit by being a
“first mover” a number of mining and exploration companies have
decided to develop assets in Burkina Faso. One of them is…
Riverstone Resources
TSX.V – RVS
Share Structure
Total
Institutional & Corporate Ownership: 20,680,000 = 22.8%
Total Insider
Ownership; 4,366,000 = 4.8%
Retail Ownership:
65,183,190 = 72.4%
Outstanding
shares: 90,229,190
Warrants:
24,272,876
Options:
7,400,000
Fully Diluted:
121,902,000
Market
Capitalization @ .50 per share: $45,100,066
Cash: US$
8,500,00.00
Debt: nil
Management
Michael D.
McInnis, P.Eng, Director, President & CEO. Over 35 years of experience in
exploration and management, track record with high quality mineral projects
James Robertson,
P.Eng, Director. Over 35 years of experience, past Director of Primary Metals
before takeover by Sojitz Corp.
Alvin Jackson,
P.Geo, Director. International experience, past President and COO of EuroZinc
Mining
Rick Bailes,
P.Eng, Director. Over 30 years in mining, past President and CEO of Canadian
GoldHunter
Gregory Isenor,
P.Geo, Director. Past CEO of Jilbey Gold before its takeover by High River
Gold
Paul G. Anderson,
P. Geo, Vice President Exploration. International experience, previously in
Burkina Faso with Channel Resources in 1990’s
Riverstone
Resources Inc. has focused its exploration activities on West Africa because
its elephant country for gold exploration - hosting world-class gold deposits
in Ghana, Mali and Guinea. In addition, West Africa has had the fastest
growth in gold production in the world over the past five years.
Ghana
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Mali
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Burkina Faso
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Obuasi (42M oz)
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Sadiola (14M oz)
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Essakane (5.2M oz)
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Bibiani (5M oz)
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Morila (5.9M oz)
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Taparko(1.5M oz)
|
Obotan(2.8M oz)
|
Syama (5.2M oz)
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Mana (1.2M oz)
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Yatela(4.4M oz)
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Youga(1.5M oz)
|
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Loulo(4.0M oz)
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Inata/Belahoure(1.7M oz)
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The Company has
chosen to concentrate its efforts in Burkina Faso because the belts of
favorable rock that host all of the major gold deposits in Ghana continue
into Burkina Faso.
Burkina Faso has
undergone less than 10 years of modern exploration and offers the chance to
build a property portfolio in an area that has been severely under-explored.
Riverstone management believes there are opportunities for further major
discoveries in the country.
Projects
Since 2003
Riverstone has amassed a total of 13 exploration permits in 6 regions with
its current land package covering some 2,300 square kilometers.
1. Karma - Five
contiguous permits with four gold deposits to date: Rambo, Kao and Goulagou I
& II. The Company has completed an initial independent NI43-101 resource
estimate at Karma with an indicated resource of 820,500 ounces of gold and an
inferred resource of 320,300 ounces of gold. The resource is contained within
4 deposits all within 7 km of each other and drilling has been limited to a
100 meters in depth. The Company is currently focused on expanding the gold
resource contained within the Karma Project.
The Rambo Deposit
contains 56,900 oz of gold at an average grade of 7.02 g/t, the deposit is
open for expansion and is anticipated to become the starter pit.
Goulagou I &
II contain 577,000 oz of gold at a grade of 1.83g/t - the resource is
anticipated to increase with this year’s drilling program.
The Kao Deposit
contains 507,000 oz of gold at a grade of 0.91g/t and is still open to the
north, north east and depth.
Gold resources at
Karma are shallow, the bulk of resources is in oxide material above 100
meters in depth. There is the potential for a centralized gold processing
facility to handle the material from all the deposits. There is also
significant potential to expand gold resources with many untested gold
showings.
A new discovery,
the Nami artisanal site, is located 4 kilometers north of the Rambo deposit.
Artisanal activity commenced on the site in April, 2009 and activity has
increased substantially since then. Artisanal workers excavate small,
vertical shafts and collect material – in Nami’s case from quartz
veins and quartz breccias - which they process through a crude sluice box
system. Several hundred of these shafts have been excavated to date.
Riverstone has
recently undertaken testing of the Artisanal miners waste dumps. The waste
dumps are material left behind by the artisanal miners after high grading the
quartz veins and they are considered by these miners to carry no gold grade.
The average of all samples greater than 0.3 g/t is 1.36 g/t with a high of
8.6 g/t.
"We are
very pleased with the results from the waste dump sampling. We knew from our
sampling of the *quartz veins and quartz breccias that they carry
exceptionally high values of gold but we had very little information on the
gold content of the host rock surrounding the quartz bearing material. The
average grade of 1.36 g/t returned from the waste dump material certainly
exceeded our expectations and is a very positive development for the project."
M.D. McInnis, President and CEO of RVS
*Previous
sampling by the Company of the quartz bearing rock returned numerous values
in excess of 10 g/t gold with a high of 98 g/t. (See Riverstone News Release
dated Jan. 18 and Feb 23, 2010). These high grade values should elevate the
average grade of the Nami site to a value well in excess of the 1.36 g/t
background value defined by the dump sampling.
Any gold ounces
developed at Nami will be accretive to the NI 43-101 gold resource at the
Company's adjacent Rambo, Goulagou and Kao deposits – the Karma
Project. Nami is approximately 1.5 km by 600m based on RAB drilling and
tracing the quartz veins and altered zone.
Currently there
are over 6000 samples in the laboratory and another 20,000 meters of drilling
is planned for Karma this year.
2. Ligidi - a 13
km long by 3 km wide gold-in-soils geochemical anomaly that is open in at
least one direction. The Ligidi permit covers 225 square km and both Birimian
greenstones and Tarkwaiian sediments have been identified on the property.
The presence of Tarkwaiian rocks is closely linked to the very large gold
deposits found in Ghana.
Riverstone has
plans to spend $1mm on this project in 2010. The company expects to have plus
$5mm remaining in its treasury at the end of 2010.
Joint Ventured
Projects
The
Company’s other three projects, all drill ready, will have a total of
$1.05m spent on them through the second half of the year as the result of a
recently announced option agreement. Riverstone retains 60% after earn in and
remains operator.
3. Yaramoko - an
8 km long deformation zone which appears to be the continuation of the
mineralized zones at Semafo's Mana Gold Mine. The Mana Mine is being
developed on a series of high-grade gold veins.
4. The Bissa East
Project - comprises two contiguous Exploration Permits, Tangapella and
Biliga. To date, the company has defined three gold zones on Tangapella and
two on Biliga. The Bissa East permits collectively cover an area of 498
square km and were acquired to cover portions of the northeast trending
Sabcé shear zone. The Sabcé shear zone hosts a large number of
known gold deposits.
5. Solna - The
Solna Project comprises three contiguous permits, Solna, Teyango and Yantera.
The company has delineated a 30 km long deformation zone that runs through
all three properties. Work done to date on the more advanced Solna permit has
demonstrated the presence of some very high gold grades in trenches.
Conclusion
Five large
exciting projects already in their portfolio, unlimited potential for new
discoveries, a mining friendly country that recognizes the need for resource
extraction, ongoing legislation changes, the new mining fund and a series of
tax breaks all mean Riverstone Resources is in a good position to take
advantage of everything Burkina Faso has to offer investors.
Currently
Riverstone is valued at roughly $50 per gold oz in the ground. This is very
low for West African gold - $75 oz for the insitu value of gold in West
Africa.
After the
upcoming 20,000 meter drilling program this author believes
Riverstone’s current gold resource of 1,140,800 Indicated and Inferred
oz’s could rise substantially.
Burkina Faso and
RVS.v are, in this authors opinion, offering a chance for early investors to
get in on the ground floor of a mining boom. Riverstone Resources TSX.V
– RVS and Burkina Faso - The Land of Upright People - should be on
every investors golden radar screen.
Is it on yours?
Richard Mills
Aheadoftheherd.com
Richard
is host of www.aheadoftheherd.com and invests in the
junior resource sector. His articles have been published on over 60 websites
including - Wall Street Journal, 24hGold, Kitco, USAToday, Safehaven,
SeekingAlpha, The Gold/Energy Reports, Gold-Eagle and Financial Sense.
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