Asanko Gold (TSX:AKG, StockForum), a Vancouver-based junior gold company engaged in the exploration and development of West African mineral properties, announced today that Ghanaian regulatory authorities had granted the company the environmental invoice and water use permits for the Esaase deposit located at its Asanko Gold Mine located in Ghana.
According to the news release, “The Invoice, issued by the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"), through its Technical Review Committee, is a pre-cursor to receiving the final Environmental Permit. Asanko will now finalize its EIS to incorporate the comments of the Invoice, which are not onerous, and submit it to the EPA for final permitting, which will occur in due course.”
With the receipt of the environmental invoice, the company is now allowed to apply for a temporary mining permit and expects to begin early works at the Esaase site, should the company decide to progress.
Asanko also secured three important water permits for the site from the Ghanaian Water Resources Commission allowing it to abstract boreholes for domestic construction and operations purposes at the site. The permits are valid for three years becoming renewable after that initial time period.
Company president and CEO, Peter Breese, commented, “We are delighted that we have now received our Invoice from the EPA and Water Use Permits from the WRC for the Esaase site. This means that in addition to our fully permitted Phase 1 project, we now have a second site that has passed the necessary hurdles as required by the Ghanaian regulatory authorities.”
He then concluded, “We would like to thank both the EPA and the WRC for their valued and proactive contributions during the permitting of the Esaase Gold Project as we continue de-risking our assets in Ghana.”
Asanko was in the news recently when the company strengthen its executive management team last week.
Shares rose 2.17% on the news to $2.35 per share.
Currently there are 172.2m outstanding shares with a market cap of $404.7 million.