Predictive Discovery (ASX:PDI) said that the definitive feasibility study for the Bankan gold project in Guinea showed a life-of-mine average production of around 250,000 ounces per annum over 12.2 years for a total production of a 3.03 million ounces from a mill feed of 54.5 million tonnes at 1.86 grams per tonne grade containing 3.26 million ounces of gold, according to a Wednesday Australian bourse filing.

It updated the probable ore reserve estimate to 51.6 million tonnes at 1.78 g/t for 2.95 million ounces of contained gold across the NEB open pit, NEB underground, and BC open pit areas. Ore reserves were estimated at a gold price of $1,800 per ounce.

The production targets and forecast financial information in the study are based on 90.6% probable ore reserves and 9.4% inferred mineral resources.

It plans to use a conventional drill, blast, truck, and shovel approach for open pit mining, while mining of the NEB underground orebody was optimized to a hybrid longitudinal/transverse long hole open stoping method, with paste fill.

The processing plant was designed with a 4.5 million tonnes per annum capacity, using a conventional carbon-in-leach method with upfront gravity recovery.

Construction is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2026, and it is scheduled to occur over two years. It is targeting the start of commercial production in the second quarter of 2028.