A major gold project in the Republic of Guinea has secured USD 122 million in financing.

The gold project, named Tri-K, is to be operated by Société des Mines de Mandiana (Managem Group).

Tri-K is owned 70% by Managem Group, and 30% by its partner, Avocet Mining, a United Kingdom-headquartered and West-African focused gold mining company.

The financers for the project were advised by White & Case.

Tri-K’s lenders providing the USD 122 million comprised Chaabi International Bank Offshore, a subsidiary of French Group of cooperative banks, Banque Populaire Group, Paris-headquartered multinational investment bank Société Générale and Attijariwafa Bank Europe.

The financing will be put towards the design, construction, development and eventual operation of Tri-K, which will have an annual capacity of 2.8 million tonnes.

Tri-K is located in the Mandiana region of Guinea, near to Kankan, Guinea's second largest city. The area has high gold-bearing potential.

Tri-K extends over an area of 490 square kilometres, and the lifetime of the mine is expected to be nine years, with the capacity to generate 120,000 ounces of gold, annually.

After the finalisation of a project feasibility study in 2018, it was shown that ore deposits from Tri-K could be mined efficiently by using open cast methods of mining, and processed by using conventional gravity or carbon-in-leach (CIL) technology.

The White & Case advisory team was led by London partner Rebecca Campbell, and Paris partner of counsel and head of the energy, infrastructure, project and asset finance group in the Paris office, Paule Biensan.