The picture shows Li Yaohong, Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Ghana

The picture shows Li Yaohong, Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Ghana

On January 31, the handover ceremony of Chifeng Gold's acquisition of Golden Star Resources Ltd. was held in Wassa Mine, Ghana.

Samuel Abu Jinapo, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources of Ghana, Li Yaohong, Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Ghana (remote video participation), Martin Kwaku Ayisi, CEO of Ghana Minerals Commission, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Governor of Western Province, Members of Congress, District Chief Executive, Wang Jianhua, Chairman of Chifeng Gold (remote video participation), Yang Xiaojun, President of China-Africa Fund for Production Capacity Cooperation (remote video participation), Chen Zhiyong, Director and Executive President of Chifeng Gold and the new Chairman of Golden Star Resources, Chen Tiehe, Executive President of Chifeng Gold, Li Jinqian, Director and Executive President of Chifeng Gold and Director of Wulong Mining (remote video participation), Paul Harris, Executive President of Chifeng Gold and CEO of LXML, Laos (remote video participation), Andrew Wray, former CEO of Golden Star Resources, Graham Crew, former COO of Golden Star Resources, Shaddrack Sowah, the new Vice President of Support Services of Golden Star Resources and General Manager of Golden Star Wassa Mine, Nana Abena Kunajoa II, Paramount Chief of Wassa Fiase Traditional District, and more than 400 people including representatives of local communities, Ghana Mining Workers Association, government agencies and regulatory agencies, religion, employees at all levels in Wassa, contractors and news media attended and witnessed this historical moment.

The handover ceremony kicked off with rich African traditional music and dance.

Samuel Abu Jinapo, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources of Ghana, said in his speech that Chifeng Gold is welcome to invest and operate in Ghana, and the Ghanaian government is eager to introduce high-quality mining investment companies, thus driving the development of Ghana's overall mining industry. Chifeng Gold's acquisition and operation of Wassa Mine marks the beginning.

The picture shows Samuel Abu Jinapo, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources of Ghana.

Counselor Li Yaohong said in his speech that he was very pleased to witness the handover celebration of Chifeng Gold's acquisition of 62% shares of Golden Star Resources and China-Africa Fund for Production Capacity Cooperation's acquisition of the remaining 38% shares. This acquisition is by far China's largest investment in Ghana and a milestone in economic cooperation between China and Ghana. He believes that taking this opportunity, the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries will achieve more and more achievements.

The picture shows Li Yaohong, Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Ghana

In the video link, Chairman Wang Jianhua first expressed his regret that he could not attend the scene due to the epidemic. He said that Chifeng Gold cooperated with China-Africa Fund for Production Capacity Cooperation to acquire Ghana Wassa Project, which had a great impact on the global mining industry, and he spoke highly of Ghana's investment environment. He believes that under the condition of increasing capital and technology investment, and with the joint efforts of Wassa team and all employees, Wassa's gold output will further increase in the future. At the same time, Chifeng Gold will better integrate into local culture, promote environmental governance in a friendly way, and grow together with the community, so that more people can benefit from the development of Wassa Mine. Finally, he expressed Spring Festival greetings to all the Chinese employees of Chifeng Gold working in Ghana.

Yang Xiaojun, President of China-Africa Fund for Production Capacity Cooperation, introduced the general situation of China-Africa Fund for Production Capacity Cooperation in his speech, and said that Ghana is rich in minerals, with sound mining policy and good investment environment, the transaction is progressing rapidly and smoothly. He expressed his gratitude to all parties involved in the transaction, especially to the partner Chifeng Gold for its leading role and positive and pragmatic working methods in this project, which made the project progress smoothly and rapidly. The careful investigation and evaluation of Chifeng Gold made China-Africa Fund realize the potential of Wassa Mine, and at the same time strengthened its confidence in cooperation with Chifeng Gold.

Chen Zhiyong, Director and Executive President of Chifeng Gold and the new Chairman of Golden Star Resources, first introduced Chifeng Gold in his speech. He introduced the merger process of the team in Ghana. He thanked Counselor Li Yaohong for his attention and support, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources of Ghana and CEO of Minerals Commission for their help and support, the former management team of Golden Star Resources for their hard work in the past, and the Wassa community and all contractors for their support. He said that the completion of the delivery is only the first step in a successful acquisition. In the future, all Wassa employees need to work hard with us and continue to support from the government, the community and contractors. The core value of Chifeng Gold is to "benefit more people with the development of Chifeng Gold". We are all important stakeholders in Wassa Mine. Wassa's success represents everyone's success. We should build Wassa Mine into a first-class mine with larger scale and better benefits.

Chen Tiehe, Executive President of Chifeng Gold, said in his speech that this is an important and special ceremony, which marks a new beginning in the development of Wassa Project under the strategy of Chifeng Gold. Chifeng Gold firmly believes that Wassa mining area has good exploration potential, and the local team is excellent in management, technology and skills. Chifeng Gold will maintain and improve the high standards of health, safety and environmental management in Wassa Mine, continue to implement active exploration plans, expand geological resources, realize the mining volume of not less than 2 million tons in the year of delivery, and achieve greater leap-forward development by intensifying capacity expansion and transformation. Let's work together for the development of Wassa Mine.

Paul Harris, Director and Executive President of Chifeng Gold and CEO of LXML, Laos, expressed warm congratulations to Chifeng Gold on its successful acquisition of Wassa Gold Mine on behalf of Sepon Mine. He believed that this acquisition would be an important step in Chifeng Gold's overseas development strategy and a milestone. Paul Harris said that in 2018, Chifeng Gold acquired Sepon Gold and Copper Mine in Laos, which revitalized a project whose mine life was nearing completion. By intensifying exploration and transforming the concentrator and other infrastructure construction, the mining volume and mineral processing volume of the mine increased to about twice, and the gold resources increased to three times, which greatly prolonged the mine life and revitalized the mine. At the same time, Chifeng Gold maintained the high standard operation of Sepon Mine, and continued to maintain world-class performance in safety, environmental management and community development. It won the Best Practice Award of ASEAN Mineral-Environmental and Social Sustainable Mineral Development, and also won the highest business leader award of Lao government for its effective fight against the epidemic.

Paul said that Sepon team participated in the due diligence of the acquisition of Wassa Project. He understands that Wassa Mine is a good project with the potential to grow into a world-class large-scale mine, and believes that Chifeng Gold will provide strong support to Wassa Mine like Sepon Mine, which will definitely make Wassa a safe and productive mine, so that more people can benefit from the development of Wassa Mine.

In his speech, Li Jinqian, Director and Executive President of Chifeng Gold and Director of Wulong Mining, expressed warm congratulations on behalf of Wulong Mining on the successful acquisition of Ghana Wassa Project by Chifeng Gold and China-Africa Fund for Production Capacity Cooperation. He said that he was deeply attracted by Ghana's superior mining investment environment in last year's due diligence, and deeply felt the strong support of the Minister and Mr. Martin for this acquisition. The success of this transaction will surely bring new development opportunities to Wassa and become an important milestone in the overseas development strategy of Chifeng Gold.

Presentations and speeches were also made by Andrew Wray, former CEO of Golden Star Resources, Shaddrack Sowah, the new Vice President of Support Services of Golden Star Resources and General Manager of Golden Star Wassa Mine, Nana Abena Kunajoa II, Paramount Chief of Wassa Fiase Traditional District, and representatives of mine contractors. They all warmly congratulated the handover of Wassa Project and expressed their greatest support for future Wassa operations.

Group photo of Chen Zhiyong, Chairman of Wassa Mine, Chen Tiehe, General Manager, and Samuel Abu Jinapo, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources of Ghana.

Subsequently, Samuel Abu Jinapo, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources of Ghana, and Chen Zhiyong, Director and Executive President of Chifeng Gold and the new Chairman of Golden Star Resources, co-chaired the unveiling ceremony of Chifeng Gold and jointly announced that Chifeng Gold officially won the Golden Star Wassa Project. During the flag-changing ceremony, Andrew Wray, former CEO of Golden Star Resources, lowered the flag of Golden Star Resources Ltd., and Samuel Abu Jinapo, Minister, together with Chen Zhiyong, the new Chairman of Golden Star Resources, and Chen Tiehe, CEO of Golden Star Resources, raised the flag of Chifeng Gold. The golden Chifeng Gold flag fluttered in Ghana, West Africa, and at the Wassa Mine site.

Wassa Gold Mine is a large and young gold production mine located in Ashanti Gold Mine Belt, the largest gold metallogenic belt in Ghana. The mine started open-pit production in 2005 and underground production on January 1, 2017. As of December 31, 2020, the total resources of the mine are 11.72 million ounces (364.8 tons), with an average grade of 3.53 g/ton, of which the proven and controlled resources are 3.537 million ounces (110 tons).

The completion of the delivery and handover of Chifeng Gold's acquisition of Wassa Gold Mine in Ghana marks that Chifeng Gold has entered Ghana, an important international gold-producing area in West Africa, and is an important milestone for Chifeng Gold to enter internationalization.

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