Despite a rocky 12 months for gold exposures, West African Resources (ASX: WAF) has taken significant steps towards production status

Despite a rocky 12 months for gold exposures, West African Resources (ASX: WAF) has taken significant steps towards production status. The company remains one of our most prospective emerging gold production plays. Over the past year the company has achieved the successful takeover of Canadian-listed Channel Resources, the procurement of a second-hand heap-leach plant to treat ore at its Mankarga 5 deposit, the release of encouraging Scoping Study results that underline project commerciality - and now a US$5 million convertible note facility that will allow the completion of a full Feasibility Study on the Mankarga 5 deposit. The company is very strongly placed as we enter 2015.