09:52 AM EDT, 06/20/2024 (MT Newswires) -- (Adds analyst comment and updates shares.)

B2Gold ( BTG ) edged higher in early Toronto trading after the company on Thursday released an initial mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Springbok zone at the Antelope deposit in Namibia.

The company said the zone contains an inferred resource of 390.000 ounces of gold based on 36,000 meters of drilling.

The deposit lies three kilometers south of B2Gold's ( BTG ) Otjikoto Mine. The company expects mining at the site could begin by 2026 following completion of a preliminary economic analysis and permitting. It will feed ores into the Otjikoto mill, and could produce 100,000 ounces of gold annually through 2031.

"High ROI brownfield opportunity shows tangible potential to extend Otjikoto beyond 2026, encouraging progress, though don't expect to move the needle company-wide. Overall we ascribe a neutral bias," National Bank Financial analyst Don DeMarco noted.

The company's shares were last seen up $0.02 to $3.55 Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

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Price: 3.57, Change: +0.04, Percent Change: +0.99