Gold miner Endeavour Mining is focused on developing projects in the underexplored Birimian belt in West Africa through an aggressive exploration strategy to find between ten-million and 15-million ounces over the next five years.

“This would involve our finding twice as many gold ounces than we expect to mine over the period,” explains Endeavour CEO and president Sebastien de Montessus. He tells Mining Weekly that the company holds one of the largest exploration acreages in the West African region and believes that “exciting” opportunities for further growth remain.

“This focus has also offered us significant opportunities to create synergies in construction and operations, and by applying the lessons that we learn across our portfolio of assets and development projects.”

Endeavour – a sponsor of the 2018 Investing in African Mining Indaba, which will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from February 5 to 8 – states that its strategy is to deliver near- and long-term growth opportunities while generating immediate cash flow. Therefore, development and exploration projects are as integral as operational excellence.

“With our Houndé mine now complete and fully operational, we have two key development projects in the pipeline – the Ity carbon-in-leach (CIL) project and the Kalana project, in southern Mali, which fits in well with our medium-term development pipeline after the Ity CIL project’s completion,” comments De Montessus.

These three projects have the potential to deliver an additional 600 000 oz/y at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) below $700/oz.

Further, Mining Weekly reported in November that Endeavour and gold miner Randgold Resources have entered into a newly formed joint venture (JV) to explore their adjacent Sissedougou and Mankono exploration properties, in Côte d’Ivoire. Randgold and Endeavour will hold a 70% and 30% interest in the JV respectively.

De Montessus notes that the JV enables Endeavour to accelerate exploration on its Sissedougou property, while continuing to focus on the 100%-controlled 80 km corridor along the Ity mine.

Ity Mine
The Ity CIL project is on the highly prospective Birimian greenstone belt, about 480 km north-west of Abidjan, in southern Côte d’Ivoire. Construction on the project is expected to be completed in about 20 months’ time.

De Montessus says the project is progressing well, having started construction in September 2017 on the basis of the project’s optimisation study. The study optimised the November 2016 feasibility study incorporating significant reserve and resource expansions, and capturing the value created from the recent exploration success. This has led to Endeavour increasing the plant name-plate design from three-million tonnes a year to four-million tonnes a year.

Construction is expected to extend the existing mine’s life by 14 years, with production of about 235 000 oz/y for the first five years at an AISC of $494/oz.

De Montessus states that the project will position the 20-year-old Ity mine as Endeavour’s next flagship asset with “robust” project economics and a significant exploration upside. “Its average yearly production in the first five years of 235 000 oz at an AISC below $500/oz and an after-tax internal rate of return of 20%, even at a low gold price of $1 000/oz, are proof of the compelling economics of the project.”

The Ity CIL project will improve construction and operational synergies between Endeavour’s Agbaou, Ity and Houndé mines, with Houndé declaring commercial production in October 2017. De Montessus says Endeavour plans to continue to build on its excellent construction record, with the Houndé construction team having “seamlessly” transitioned to Ity.

The Ity CIL project is fully funded, with significant headroom available based on the liquidity and funding sources available. The current mine plan is based on 12 years of mining followed by the processing of stockpiled low-grade ore for another two years.