Cardinal Resources chief executive and managing director Archie Koimtsidis has for the past 20 years been involved in all facets of gold exploration, discovery, production, and refining in West Africa and South America.

Archie's most recent appointment prior to joining Cardinal was as deputy country manager of Ghana for PMI Gold, a dual-listed TSXV and ASX company. During this time, he was responsible for all field operational matters including coordination of exploration, drilling programmes, and human resource management relating to that company's projects in Ghana.

Archie has been instrumental in acquiring the Ghanaian projects on behalf of Cardinal and has a unique knowledge and understanding of geopolitical and operational matters relating to resource projects in West Africa.

Cardinal Resources' Namdini development asset in Ghana would be on the radar of major gold miners looking to replenish ounces based on its scale and likely investment return, according to Cardinal Resources chief executive and managing director Archie Koimtsidis.

Cardinal Resources is looking to publish a feasibility study for Namdini in the next quarter following a prefeasibility released late last year that scoped a 294,000 ounce per annum operation. The project already has a plus-5 million ounce reserve and resources are at some 6.5Moz.

"We're definitely a takeover target for the mere fact tier one companies need a 5Moz reserve and greater than 15% IRR to be appealing," Koimtsidis said. The Namdini PFS put the post-tax IRR (5% discount) at 38%.

However, he said there was little value in planning for such an eventuality.

"What's key as a company is what we do to build the asset.

"Whether we're approached by others for a discussion - that will be what it will be and we don't have a crystal ball. Much of this will be dictated by the market conditions.

"We can't do anything but plan for a build and finance a build and if someone wants to talk to us then the door's open."

Koimtsidis said global gold reserves were depleting and needed replacing and so M&A talk was inevitable.

"Any producer is only as good as its mine life and reserves so that's a key point and hence why exploration can't be neglected," he said.

"Exploration over the past five-to-eight years hasn't occurred at the rate it should have. So, we're going to hit and inflection point where majors will become aggressive in their need to replenish reserves." 

Koimtsidis said Namdini would provide an initial 15-year life but the company was committed to exploration and one of the near-mine objectives was to find near-surface, high-grade satellite deposits that could feed into the operation, improve economics and extend the mine life for another 15 years.

There was also the potential for Namdini to be extended at depth and Cardinal was excited about regional exploration targets on the same gold-bearing structure.