SEMAFO announced an inferred mineral resource of 2.2 million ounces of gold at the Bantou Project in Burkina Faso. The resource statement will be published in early March, along with SEMAFO's full reserves and resources statement, which are estimated as at December 31, 2019. Inferred mineral resource estimate of 2.2M oz representing 51 Mt at an average grade of 1.37 g/t Au. The large deposit, Bantou Nord, was discovered in 2019 and totals 1.1M oz of pit-constrained inferred resources, representing 36.1Mt at 0.95 g/t Au with a pit-shell strip ratio of 1:1. Bantou deposit, in addition to 282,000 ounces of inferred open-pit resources, includes 152,000 ounces of underground inferred resources grading 6.66 g/t Au at a cut-off grade of 2.00 g/t Au and remains open at depth. Recent discovery of Tiébi returned 14.63 g/t Au over 21 meters, offering potential for additional resources. The inferred resource comprises two main areas. The majority of the tonnes and ounces are centered around the Bantou and Bantou Nord Zones. The Bantou Nord Zone is located 1.5 kilometers north of the Bantou Zone with the remaining Karankasso Zones are located 15-30 kilometers from the main zones. The Bantou Nord resource is pit-constrained and although it has the lowest grade, its low 1:1 strip ratio would enhance the economics of the project. 65% of the Bantou Zone resource is pit-constrained, and the remaining resource was estimated using a cut-off grade of 2 g/t Au below the pit. The Bantou Zone remains open at depth and offers potential for expansion of additional underground resources. In view of the early success in discovering Bantou Nord, the first nine months of 2019 were dedicated to developing the resources at Bantou and Bantou Nord. In the fourth quarter, the focus moved to areas outside the existing resources. Bantou's initial 2020 exploration budget of $4 million is likely to increase as the exploration program moves outside the existing zones and follows up interesting intersections like 14.6 g/t over 21 meters at Tiébi. Figure 1 shows the locations of the Bantou Project deposits and recently discovered mineralized zones. Tiébi is located 4 kilometres northeast of the Kueredougou Ouest deposit along what appears to be a splay of the main regional structure hosting the Karankasso deposits. Mineralization is hosted in a strongly silicified-sericitized, sheared volcanosediment and felsic intrusives zone, mineralized with varying amounts of disseminated pyrite. Hole KARC19-0127 (14.6 g/t Au over 21 meters) represents the last easternmost hole of the section and will be followed up on in 2020. This section was the only drilling completed on this interpreted splay over a strike length of more than 3 kilometers. The current resource estimate covers three groups of deposits, namely Bantou, Bantou Nord, and Karankasso. The Bantou Zone is centered on a banded iron formation and a cherty horizon deposited between intermediate volcanic sequences. The mineralization is considered bimodal with a primary stratiform type found in the magnetite-pyrite bands alternating with the silicic layers. A later mineralization possibly related to orogenic episodes is hosted by a chert horizon in the footwall where the lower and upper portions have been fractured, opening conduits where mineralizing fluids circulated and deposited the gold. Although located 1.5 kilometers from the Bantou Zone, Bantou Nord is very different as its mineralization is associated with a very fine disseminated pyrite spread over a 300-meter by 250-meter area. The mineralization shows no deformation and/or hydrothermal alteration typical of orogenic styles. It is considered a synvolcanic gold mineralized zone affecting both a series of felsic dykes and sills and the intermediate volcanics that they intrude. Finally, the mineralization at the Karankasso Zones is similar in origin for all the occurrences and associated with quartz-vein development in sheared, folded, sericitized, silicified and carbonatized volcanics, and/or sediments. When present, felsic dykes are commonly sheared, foliated or fractured and spatially associated with the mineralization. The Karankasso Zones are considered typical orogenic style deposits located along a regional deformation zone flanking the western limit of the Houndé Belt, which also hosts the Wona-Kona deposit at Mana property to the north. On Bantou and Bantou Nord deposits, RC samples are collected from every 1-meter drill run representing approximately 30 kg to 40 kg of material that is reduced using a tiered riffle splitter to obtain a subsample of about 2 kg. A small sample of chips from each 1-meter interval is removed with a sieve, washed and placed in labelled chip trays for logging and future reference. Diamond core samples are collected on a maximum of 1.2-meter intervals or to the lithological/alteration/mineralization boundaries, with a minimum sample length of 0.2 meters. Core is cut in half lengthwise using a diamond saw. The other half is kept for reference in core storage shelters. Quality control samples, including reference materials and blanks are also submitted with these samples. All samples are sent for crushing, pulverizing and assaying to (i) SEMAFO mine site facilities at Mana; or (ii) ALS Minerals Services laboratories in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, or Yamoussoukro in Côte d'Ivoire. All sample assays are reported by standard 50-gram fire assaying-AA finish or gravimetric finish at (i) SEMAFO mine site facilities at Mana; or (ii) ALS Minerals Services laboratories in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, or Yamoussoukro in Côte d'Ivoire. Drill program design, Quality Assurance/Quality Control ("QA/QC") and interpretation of results is performed by qualified persons employing a QA/QC program consistent with NI 43-101 and industry best practices. In addition to the laboratory's own QA/QC (Quality Assurance/Quality Control) program, an internal quality control and quality assurance program is in place throughout the sampling program, using blind duplicates, blanks and recognized industry standards. Approximately 5% of sample pulps are sent to secondary laboratories for assay checks. For the other deposits, the procedure for handling reverse-circulation drill chips comprises initial riffle-splitting of the rock chips from one-meter drill length samples into approximately 2.5-kilogram samples, as well as description and logging into a database. A duplicate 2.5-kilogram sample, prepared at the same time as the assay sample, is kept as a reference for each sample.