"Seguela has transitioned through the design and procurement phases to now having much of the critical earthworks and civil works out of the ground ahead of the upcoming wet season, in line with budget and schedule," Fortuna's chief operating officer Paul Criddle said.

Canaccord Genuity Capital Markets analyst Dalton Baretto said that while the progress is encouraging, the "real challenges typically do not manifest themselves until later in the construction cycle".

"We continue to assume a 10% overrun to the US$173 million budget, but we believe that FVI's balance sheet is well positioned to fund construction at Seguela through commercial production," he also said.

Fortuna said about $91.6 million of the initial capital budget was accrued as of May 31.

As of June 15, engineering activities were 95% complete and procurement activities 78% complete, the company said.

Works are on-track to provide power to the site by the end of the year ahead of commissioning activities at the processing plant, it said.

"Despite challenges around logistics from port congestion at the start of the year, key electrical packages such as the high-voltage transformers out of Shanghai have started to arrive at site in line with the schedule," it said.

Seguela is slated to have a life of mine of 8.6 years, annual production of 120,000 ounces, and all-in sustaining costs of $832/oz.

Fortuna's share price was up 4% day on day at C$4.19 (US$3.23) on June 21. The company has a market capitalization of C$1.22 billion.