- Asante Gold Holds Bibiani-Chirano Resource Base at 4.6 million Ounces Despite Two Years of Mining
Asante Gold Corporation has reported a combined 4.6 million ounces of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources across its Bibiani and Chirano gold mines in Ghana, maintaining its consolidated resource base broadly in line with December 2023 levels despite producing more than 430,000 ounces from the two operations over the intervening two-year period.
The update, contained in new independently coordinated and prepared NI 43-101 technical reports effective December 31, 2025, provides a fresh assessment of the geological position of the company’s two flagship Ghanaian mines and underscores what Asante describes as significant remaining exploration potential across the more than 80-kilometre Chirano-Bibiani Corridor.
The company said the combined Measured and Indicated resource base stands at about 4.60 million ounces, inclusive of Mineral Reserves, alongside 1.80 million ounces of Inferred Mineral Resources. The updated estimates were prepared using a gold price assumption of US$2,500 per ounce for Mineral Resources and US$2,100 per ounce for Mineral Reserves.
The figures are significant because maintaining the resource base after more than 430,000 ounces of aggregate production suggests that exploration and resource conversion have been able to offset a substantial portion of mining depletion across the portfolio.
Asante Chairman Malik Easah described the result as evidence of the quality of the company’s geological position in Ghana.
“Despite mineral inventory depletion from producing over 430,000 ounces across both mines in the past two years, we have maintained our combined Measured and Indicated Resource base,” Mr Easah said.
“This is a reassuring reflection of the quality of our near-mine exploration pipeline at both Bibiani and Chirano.”
Chirano delivered the stronger resource replacement performance. The mine now hosts 2.53 million ounces of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources, contained in 40.01 million tonnes grading 1.96 grams per tonne of gold, as well as 830,000 ounces of Inferred Resources.
Mineral Reserves stand at 1.30 million ounces, supporting a current seven-year life-of-mine plan.
Asante said Chirano more than replaced depletion, with Measured and Indicated Resources increasing by 443,000 ounces relative to December 2023 and Mineral Reserves rising by 244,000 ounces, net of two years of gold production.
Since the company acquired Chirano in August 2022, more than 66,900 metres of drilling across 257 holes have contributed to resource and reserve growth. From December 2023 to the end of 2025, Chirano’s Measured and Indicated Resources increased to 2.53 million ounces, while Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves increased to 1.30 million ounces despite roughly 270,000 ounces of depletion from mining.
The strongest additions came from areas including Obra, Sariehu, Suraw and Akoti South.
At Obra Underground, 51 diamond drill holes totalling 18,436 metres contributed 242,000 ounces at 1.50 grams per tonne to Mineral Reserves, extending the reserve base by 175 metres vertically and confirming a 350-metre strike extension north towards Sariehu.
At Suraw Underground, drilling added about 100,000 ounces at 2.37 grams per tonne to Measured and Indicated Resources, while work at Sariehu grew underground Mineral Reserves to more than 169,000 ounces.
Asante is also evaluating what it calls a “North Mine” concept linking the Obra, Sariehu and Mamnao deposits into a more consolidated operation.
Drilling has already confirmed continuous near-surface mineralisation over about one kilometre between Sariehu and Mamnao, while additional work is underway to test open-pit and underground extensions across the broader Chirano system.
For investors, the Chirano performance matters because replacing mined ounces is one of the central challenges facing producing gold companies.
A mine can generate strong short-term production while gradually eroding its future value if exploration fails to replace ounces removed from the ground. Chirano’s current resource movement suggests Asante has, at least over the latest reporting period, been able to expand the geological inventory faster than mining has depleted it.
Bibiani presents a more mixed picture, but one with considerable longer-term exploration optionality.
The mine holds 2.06 million ounces of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources, based on 30.83 million tonnes grading 2.08 grams per tonne, and a further 965,000 ounces of Inferred Resources.
Its Mineral Reserves stand at 1.53 million ounces, supporting a current nine-year mine life that incorporates both open-pit and underground material.
However, Mineral Reserves declined by 22.00% and Measured and Indicated Resources by 17.00%, reflecting open-pit depletion of 111,000 ounces, a more constrained exploration budget compared with Chirano and modelling refinements to the Main Pit.
Asante intends to address that decline through a revitalised exploration programme.
Mr Easah acknowledged that exploration activity at Bibiani had been constrained during 2024 and 2025 but said the company planned an enhanced exploration budget to rebuild the resource pipeline.
“At Bibiani specifically, exploration activity was constrained over the 2024-2025 period, however, enhanced exploration budget is planned going forward to rebuild that pipeline,” he said.
Asante says the Bibiani Main Pit remains open to at least 1,400 metres below surface, while drilling planned for 2026 and 2027 will test the North, Central and South Deeps targets to depths of as much as 1,600 metres.
Current resource definition extends to about 600 metres below surface, meaning a large part of the deeper system remains comparatively untested.
Recent drilling has already confirmed mineralisation to around 650 metres below surface, and the company believes the broader system remains open beneath that level. Underground development at Bibiani is scheduled to commence in late 2026. The company’s broader thesis extends beyond the two existing mine plans.
Asante controls more than 937 square kilometres across the Chirano-Bibiani Corridor, spanning over 80 kilometres along the Sefwi-Bibiani Belt.
The corridor has produced more than 8 million ounces of gold over its mining history, but the company argues that much of the system remains underexplored, particularly at depth.
Current mineral resource definition across much of the corridor extends only approximately 300 to 700 metres below surface.
Asante compares the geological architecture with major greenstone-hosted gold systems elsewhere, including the Lefroy-Boulder Fault Zone in Western Australia and Canada’s Abitibi Greenstone Belt, while stressing that the Ghanaian corridor has been tested to a much shallower extent.
The comparison is geological rather than a claim that the Chirano-Bibiani Corridor contains resources of comparable size. But it illustrates why the company is increasingly positioning depth and strike exploration as a central part of its long-term growth strategy.
Asante plans to continue drilling across Chirano during 2026, including at Obra, Suraw, Sariehu, Tano and gaps between existing deposits.
At Bibiani, approximately 25,685 metres of a planned 33,250-metre 2026 reverse-circulation and diamond drilling programme had already been completed at the time of the release, with work focused on Main Pit underground resources, Cut 6 and other near-mine targets.
A larger exploration budget is then expected in fiscal 2027 as Asante seeks to rebuild the Bibiani resource pipeline after the relatively constrained 2024-2025 programme.
The updated figures therefore point to a two-speed resource story. At Chirano, drilling has not simply offset depletion but expanded both resources and reserves.
At Bibiani, depletion and lower exploration intensity have reduced the current inventory, but the company is betting that deeper drilling, underground development and a larger exploration budget can reverse that trend.
Together, the two mines retain a consolidated Measured and Indicated resource base of approximately 4.60 million ounces, with total Mineral Reserves of about 2.83 million ounces and Inferred Resources of roughly 1.80 million ounces.
For Asante, the next challenge is therefore less about demonstrating that the gold remains in the ground than proving that the geological opportunity can be converted into sustainable production and shareholder returns.
“With a 4.6 million ounce Measured and Indicated Resource base as our foundation,” Mr Easah said, “Asante’s core focus as a company is to vigorously pursue its ongoing operational improvements at both assets and to thereby translate this geological opportunity into value for shareholders.”
More than 430,000 ounces have been mined in two years, yet Asante’s combined Measured and Indicated resource base remains around 4.60 million ounces.
The task now is to show that exploration can continue replacing depletion — and that the largely untested depth of the Chirano-Bibiani Corridor can translate from geological promise into economically mineable ounces.
