Toronto-listed Geodrill says a US$54 million underground drilling contract with Centamin in Egypt, the largest win in its history, expands its Africa footprint.
One of the most successful drillers in West Africa’s gold sector, Geodrill expects to drill at least 90,000m a year with five rigs at Centamin’s flagship Sukari gold mine. Centamin is looking to expand underground production at Sukari after starting openpit mining in 2008. It has produced circa-five million ounces of gold and has a current projected mine life of 12 years.
Geodrill CEO Dave Harper said: “Not only does our business with Centamin complement our existing work, it will also help us counter cyclical industry downturns while at the same time delivering a significant, stable base of long-term revenue over the next 5 years.”
Geodrill said last month it had 71 drill rigs operating in West Africa, Egypt and Peru. It picked up contracts with growing ASX-listed gold miner Perseus Mining for exploration drilling in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire that would keep up to 15 rigs busy until August next year. The contracts were expected to produce more than US$45m of new revenue.
Geodrill’s (TSX: GEO) share price is up about 4% this year, capitalising the company at C$102m.
