Junior miner Orezone Gold Corp. stunned investors on Monday with news that it will likely slash the gold resources at its Bomboré project by a staggering 30 per cent. Not surprisingly, the stock plunged 39 per cent.

Analysts are weighing in, and they aren’t happy. Nana Sangmuah of Clarus Securities estimated that this revision could remove 450,000 ounces of potential gold production from Bomboré, or about three years of mine life. He lowered his target price 72 per cent to just 50 cents a share, and downgraded the stock to sell (from buy).

“We expect the timeline to production to be drawn out for about a year as project re-scoping commences post completion of the resource estimation,” Sangmuah said in a note.

“We see this as a step backwards as management has to change gears from development back to exploration to build up a sizeable mineable ounce profile to attract funding.”

BMO Capital Markets analyst Andrew Breichmanas noted that he recently took a constructive view on Orezone’s stock. Now, not so much.

“The likely negative resource update appears to place the viability of the (Bomboré) project in question until the feasibility study is revised,” he said.

He downgraded the stock to market perform (from outperform) and cut his target to 75 cents a share, down from the prior level of $1.75.