The first gold pour at TSX-listed Endeavour Mining’s Ity carbon-in-leach (CIL) project, in Côte d'Ivoire, took place on March 18, four months ahead of schedule and under budget.

The first pour yielded about 1 800 oz of gold.

About 135 160 t of ore have been processed since ore was introduced into the CIL processing plant last month, the company revealed in a statement on Tuesday.

Commercial production is expected to be declared in the second quarter of this year, with performance trial testing to start soon, considering that the crushing, milling and CIL circuits have attained a stable nameplate capacity of four-million tonnes a year.

Following the performance tests already conducted, Endeavour has launched optimisation and debottlenecking work which is expected to increase the plant’s nameplate capacity by one-million tonnes a year, to five-million tonnes a year, at a minimal cost of between $10-million and $15-million.

The volumetric upsize work mainly comprises an upgrade to pipes and pumps and a second 50 t oxygen plant, with no additional mining fleet required. These plant upgrades are expected to be completed during scheduled plant maintenance shutdowns throughout the next six months.

According to Endeavour president and CEO Sébastien de Montessus, this first gold pour and the quick ramp-up period is “a transformational event for Endeavour”, especially as the Ity CIL project will quickly contribute to the group's cash generation potential. 

Given its current 15-year mine life and strong exploration potential, Endeavour’s ability to increase the plant size to five-million tonnes a year at minimal additional capital expenditure (capex) represents “a compelling investment” and is in line with the company’s focus on capital allocation efficiency and return on capital employed criteria.

With this upgrade, Ity has the potential to produce about 300 000 oz/y of gold at a low all-in sustaining cost (AISC), De Montessus added.

“The Ity CIL project capex spend is tracking under budget compared with the initial budget of $412-million. As construction is tracking ahead of schedule and below budget, Endeavour decided to conduct additional works such as the construction of a fuel farm, building exploration facilities and an additional $7-million of crop compensation and resettlement related to prospective exploration grounds.”

Owing to these additional works, and the funds required for the plant upgrade to five-million tonnes a year, the total project capex spend is expected to reach about $420-million.

An exploration programme, valued at about $11-million and totalling about 71 000 m of drilling, has been planned for this year, with the aim of delineating additional resources at the Le Plaque target, and testing other targets such as Floleu, Daapleu SW and Samuel.

Ity is expected to produce between 160 000 oz and 200 000 oz of gold this year at an AISC of between $525/oz and $590/oz, with the bottom-end of the production guidance corresponding to the four-million-tonne-a-year nameplate capacity, while the top-end factors in upsides such as an earlier start date, an expedited ramp-up and the plant producing above its nameplate capacity.