Additional Reading concerning the Baomahun Gold Project EPCM contract award - which followed a FEED award (front end engineering & design) back in February this year:

https://fggoldmining.com/company-news/fg-gold-awards-front-end-engineering-design-to-lycopodium/

FG Gold is pleased to announce it has awarded the FEED contract for the process plant and associated non-process infrastructure for the Baomahun Gold Project to Lycopodium Minerals Canada Ltd on February 8, 2023.

The FEED contract will comprise of optimisation and value engineering activities across the Project, and firm selection of long lead items. Upon completion of the FEED and subject to agreement between FG Gold and Lycopodium, the Project will transition into the provision of Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) services for the Project, which will entail detailed engineering, procurement of equipment and materials, and construction management, preoperational testing, and commissioning. FG Gold issued a Letter of Intent for the EPCM Services to Lycopodium on 29 December 2022.

Oliver Andrews, Executive Chairman, stated, "Award of the FEED contract to Lycopodium represents a key step in the development of the Baomahun Gold Project. We remain committed to developing Baomahun into a first- in-class asset and partnering with firms such as Lycopodium that foster excellence and boast a tremendous track record of delivery in West Africa aligns with our mission. We are looking forward to becoming Sierra Leone’s flagship gold mine."

About Lycopodium Minerals Canada Ltd.

Lycopodium Minerals Canada Ltd. is a subsidiary of Lycopodium Limited. Lycopodium Limited is an Australian headquartered, global engineering and project delivery organisation providing specialist services across the resources, infrastructure, and industrial processes sectors. Lycopodium has extensive experience in gold mineral processing across West Africa and most recently has worked on West African Resources’ Kiaka Gold Project in Burkina Faso, Endeavour Mining’s Lafigué Project in Côte d’Ivoire and Sabodala-Massawa Expansion Project in Senegal, Orezone Gold Corporation’s Bomboré Project in Burkina Faso, and Roxgold’s Séguéla Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire.

About FG Gold Limited

FG Gold is a gold development company focused on constructing and operating the Baomahun Gold Project located in Sierra Leone. Baomahun is set to become Sierra Leone’s first large scale commercial gold mine and is one of the largest deposits under development in Africa.

Lycopodium has been involved with the Project since 2021 and in conjunction with FG Gold delivered a Definitive Feasibility Study in December 2022 which confirms the Project as one of the most attractive shovel-ready gold projects in Africa with a JORC compliant mineral resource of 4.5 million ounces grading 1.92g/t for the Baomahun deposit. The Project is expected to deliver an average gold production of ~142,000 ounces over a 12.5-year mine life peaking at 224,000oz, with an after-tax payback period of 2.8 years at an assumed gold price of US$1,700/ounce. The Life of Mine Plan (“LOMP”) does not include the significant underground potential and neighbouring Pujehun South deposit which contains a JORC compliant mineral resource of 0.425 million ounces grading 1.40g/t. Thus, significant opportunities remain to increase the average gold production per year or to extend the Life of Mine of the Project.

--- ends ---

This is the natural way these things tend to play out - most of the time - LYL is awarded a feasibility study, or multiple studies (PFS then either a DFS or BFS), possibly a FEED contract and/or early works contract, and then that often rolls into an EPCM contract or similar (such as an EPC or an EP & PM contract, aka an EPM contract) - normally the "P" stands for "Procurement" but in the context of an EP & PM contract, the second "P" stands for "Project", as in "Project Management"). So you can get a fairly good idea of their pipeline of future work opportunities by how many feasibility studies they are involved in currently. On page 20 of their 2023 AGM Presentation last month, they listed the details all of their major projects and also disclosed that they were involved in 40+ (i.e. more than 40) studies. On the following page (page 21) of that presentation, they disclosed what commodities 35 of those studies were in at that point in time: 13 in gold, 4 in copper, 2 in nickel, 2 in lithium, 3 in other battery minerals, 5 in diamonds/gems, 1 in mineral sands and 5 in rare earths, platinum and silver ("other"). Not every study results in a project that gets a positive FID and funding and actually goes ahead and gets built, and of those that do, Lycopodium will not get 100% of the EPCM (or similar) contracts - for the builds - but they do tend to get a significant percentage of the ones that do go ahead, because they have done the studies and know the project better than anyone else. It's just how it works. There are no guarantees, but their study levels can provide a decent indicator of future much larger EPCM (or similar) contracts.

Similarly, when GNG (GR Engineering Services, who I also hold shares in) are awarded the feasibility studies instead of LYL, it tends to be GNG who get the EPC (or similar) contracts if and when those projects do go ahead. GNG seem to get most of the gold and copper studies here in Australia, and Lycopodium tend to get the vast majority of the ones in Africa, where there are certainly a lot more risks, but as I have discussed previously, Lycopodium have become extrememly proficient at managing those risks and making good margins from working in some of the riskier places around the globe.