MINING

“ We have allocated an area where artisanal miners can continue to operate in order to continue generating cashflow ,” he says . “ Most organisations ban this , but we allow that in order to enable the local community to thrive and to prosper for itself , and not just through our direct work with Makabingui .”

As Makabingui approaches production , Mackenzie will soon begin to think about developing a number of deposits that fall under the company ’ s many identified anomalies along the Birimian green belt with one in particular that could surpass Makabingui and truly define the Senegalese mining space .

We ’ ve done some initial drilling already and found resources at around 100,000 oz of gold at Konkoutou ,” he says . A number of large international mining companies and consultants have actually stated that Konkoutou could develop into a multi-million ounce deposit . This is all potential of course . Mackenzie ’ s focus right now is 100 % on bringing Makabingui into production and establishing Bassari as a major player in the West African mining space .

“ As I said before , I want to emulate Randgold in terms of the impact it has made in Mali ,” he says . “ It ’ s not all about making money . We have a real opportunity here with our work on the Birimian green belt to help transform a third world country , and that is what is truly satisfying .”

www . miningglobal . com 65