The remaining work will focus primarily on the gold room, elution and electrowinning circuit, power connection, instrumentation and control installations.

The processing plant is being commissioned in phases; commissioning has already begun at the power plant. The next steps will be the commissioning of the semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) and ball mills and the crushing section, followed by the remaining areas of the processing plant. Thor Explorations anticipates pouring first gold from the project by the end of July.

Mining is already underway at the project; 30,000t of ore has been stockpiled in preparation for the commissioning of the processing plant. Pre-stripping of the pit is nearly finished, and 70,000t of waste rock has been removed. The equipment fleet is fully commissioned, and the company expects production to ramp up quickly to the design capacity. Blasting has also begun as the company has moved into the harder transitional and fresh ore zones.

Thor Explorations stated that all the necessary permits are in place for the project.

Segun Lawson, president and CEO of Thor Explorations, said: "We are pleased to reach this significant milestone on the Segilola gold project. Once again, I would like to thank the entire team, which has done an excellent job amidst the difficult circumstances of the global pandemic to reach this key step in the development of the Segilola gold project as we gear up towards production. We continue to work towards, and look forward to, first gold pour before the end of the month."

Thor Explorations was listed on London's AIM in June. It 100% owns the Segilola project, and also has a 70% interest in the Douta gold project in Senegal.