Mr. Patrick Downey reports

OREZONE PROVIDES UPDATE ON BOMBORE PROJECT DEVELOPMENT AND ONGOING SULPHIDE EXPANSION FEASIBILITY STUDY

Orezone Gold Corp. has provided an update on its development schedule and achievements at its 90-per-cent-owned Bombore gold project, together with progress on its 2019 sulphide expansion feasibility study.

Project development update

The company recently completed a detailed review of all project development and construction activities at Bombore with the goal of optimizing the project development and expenditure schedules. Based on this review, the company has prepared a new project development schedule that further minimizes project execution risks.

Specifically, the optimized development schedule provides a number of significant benefits, including:

• Additional flexibility in the implementation of the upfront resettlement action plan (RAP) by extending the construction schedule to ensure the pace of home construction is readily achievable, thereby maximizing local work force training and hiring practices and maintaining the local community and government support;
• Reduced operational risks and costs to the project's main infrastructure:
  • Off-channel reservoir (OCR) construction to meet the project's production water demands will now preferentially commence in the dry season.
  • A tailings storage facility (TSF) will consume less water for its dam embankment construction and will have a more simplified liner installation.
• Improved capital deployment schedule for the project:
  • 2019 burn rate significantly reduced with the company fully financed to January, 2020.

The key aspect of the review that allowed for a later construction start was the decision to better co-ordinate the start of the OCR excavation before the onset of the rainy season. This OCR excavation will now commence in Q1 2020, concurrent with major plant earthworks and the TSF construction. Furthermore, with recent completion of the front-end engineering and design (FEED) work, all major equipment lead delivery times have been fully identified and incorporated into the schedule as have major construction timeline requirements. The overall impact of this revised schedule is that commissioning and plant start-up are now scheduled for Q2 2021.

As a result of this detailed review, the company expects 2019 project expenditures to be significantly reduced from spending under the original project schedule. The company is budgeted to spend $25.2-million (U.S.) on project development for 2019, which will include costs for early-stage construction works (for example, main access roads and camp improvements), FEED completion, construction of phase I RAP resettlement villages and associated infrastructure, and advancement of permitting efforts for the sulphide expansion and P17S satellite deposit. The company anticipates a further spend of $5-million (U.S.) for corporate general and administrative costs, the 2019 feasibility study report, and project financing efforts.

With a 2018 year-end cash balance of over $31-million (U.S.), the company is fully financed for this coming year, which the company will utilize to secure the remaining financing required to construct Bombore.

RAP construction update

RAP construction is progressing, with beaconing of houses on the main resettlement sites completed and brick fabrication by local construction contractors well advanced in preparation for house construction as continuing foundations are completed. The required phase I RAP is scheduled for completion by November, 2019, which will allow one additional crop harvest by local communities before relocation commences, which has been very well received by local community members.

The company plans to provide continuing details and photographs of RAP construction activities on its website throughout 2019.

Sulphide expansion feasibility study update

The independent 2019 feasibility study is being completed by a team of highly qualified engineering and environmental firms: Lycopodium Minerals Canada Ltd. (study lead), AMC Mining Consultants (Canada) Ltd., Knight Piesold and Co., Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (RPA), Base Metallurgical Laboratories Ltd., and Antea Group. RPA is updating the 2017 mineral resource estimate to incorporate the previously excluded restricted zones and to expand the resource estimate at the high-grade P17S sulphide target for the additional drilling completed during the 2016 to 2018 period.

The 2019 feasibility study will incorporate the combined oxide and sulphide circuits and will be based on an expanded plant throughput of 5.2 million tonnes per year as opposed to the 4.5 million tonnes per year used in the 2018 feasibility study. The sulphide plant will be constructed in year 2 of oxide operations and sulphide feed will commence in year 3 at a planned rate of 1.2 million tonnes per year.

Recently completed metallurgical test work has confirmed the ore grind and gold recoveries from work undertaken in earlier studies. Work indices and abrasion indices have also been confirmed for the various sulphide materials.

The current work for the 2019 feasibility study includes detailed mine scheduling, water balance and waste rock storage designs, and an update of the environmental and permitting studies to provide essential data for the environmental social impact assessment (ESIA) update necessary to permit the expanded mine plan.

The company is on target to release the results of the 2019 feasibility study by the end of Q2 2019.

Patrick Downey, president and chief executive officer, stated: "I am pleased that this detailed project review has optimized the construction schedule for Bombore and will improve project execution and solidify community support. The company will continue to work aggressively to advance development and financing through 2019 and look forward to incorporating the results of the updated sulphide expansion FS into our financing negotiations. The sulphide expansion FS is on track and we are excited to see the results of this update in terms of annual gold production and project economics. Our RAP is progressing, and we continue to have the strong support and input into this process from our local communities. Local employment has significantly increased, which has been the result of our recent training programs."

Qualified persons

Pascal Marquis, Geo, senior vice-president, and Patrick Downey, PEng, chief executive officer of Orezone, are qualified persons under National Instrument 43-101 and have reviewed and approved the information in this news release. Orezone has also prepared and filed a current technical report on the Bombore project titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report Feasibility Study of the Bombore Gold Project, Burkina Faso," with a date of Aug. 23, 2018, and which is available on SEDAR and on the company's website. The technical report includes relevant information regarding the effective dates and the assumptions, parameters and methods of the mineral resource and reserve estimates at the Bombore project, as well as information regarding data verification and other matters relevant to the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this news release. Readers should also refer to the annual information form of Orezone for the year ended Dec. 31, 2017, and other continuous disclosure documents filed by Orezone since Jan. 1, 2018, available on SEDAR, for this detailed information, which is subject to the qualifications and notes set forth therein.

About Orezone Gold Corp.

Orezone is a Canadian company with a successful gold discovery record and recent mine development experience in Burkina Faso, West Africa. The company owns a 90-per-cent interest in Bombore, a fully permitted, low-cost, development-stage gold project in Burkina Faso, situated 85 kilometres east of the capital city of Ouagadougou, adjacent to an international highway.

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