Located 45km from West African's flagship Sanbrado operation in Burkina Faso, Kiaka is set to cost US$430 million to build, meaning WAF will probably need the best part of A$600-700 million in total funding.
At the end of December, the company had $173 million, with unhedged production guidance for the current year being 210,000 to 230,000 ounces of gold at an AISC of under US$1175/oz.
Kiaka will take West African's annual production profile past the 400,000oz mark.
Meanwhile, the company's profit in 2022 came on back of 229,224oz of production at AISC of $1086/oz and $184 million in cashflow.
Shares in West African were up 6% to A$1.02 in afternoon trade, capitalising the company at $1.05 billion.
