SEMAFO to Produce Up to 240,000 Ounces of Gold

MONTREAL Ð SEMAFO is looking forward to another strong year in 2009," said Benoit La Salle, SEMAFO's President and CEO, "We intend to build upon our 2008 achievements, where we delivered record production and completed the smooth, successful start-up of our new Mana mine. In 2008, our goal was to increase gold production by 60% through steady quarterly growth. Not only did we deliver on this promise, but we surpassed our objective, achieving an increase of 84% over our 2007 production."
"We expect continued stable production at all three mines in 2009, with the Mana mine to account for 55% of our total production" said Benoit Desormeaux, SEMAFO's Executive Vice-President and COO. "In 2009, as part of our expansion project at Mana, the purchase of additional mining equipment and minor facility modifications will augment plant capacity to 6,000 tonnes per day for saprolite ore. The delivery of mining equipment is expected at Mana in the second quarter of 2009, while increased capacity at the plant is expected be operational in the fourth quarter of 2009."
The Company closed out 9,000 ounces of gold sales contracts at a cost of $4,525,000 using a portion of the December 2008 financing proceeds. The Company is scheduled to retire all 22,100 outstanding gold sales contracts by June 30, 2009. Currently, 7,100 ounces of these gold sales contracts remain uncovered.
Semafo is a Canadian-based mining company with gold production and exploration activities in West Africa. The Company currently operates three gold mines in Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea.
The company's address is 750 Marcel-Laurin Boulevard, Suite 375, Saint-Laurent, Quebec H4M 2M4, 514-744-4408, fax: 514-744-2291, email: [email protected].