TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canadian Miner Endeavour Mining has received the final signed mining permit to develop and operate the Houndé gold project, in Burkina Faso.
The mining permit was previously approved by the Council of Ministers and had now been signed as a mining decree by the newly appointed interim President Michel Kafando, and other governmental authorities.
The decree granted Houndé Gold Operation, Endeavour’s Burkina Faso operating subsidiary, an industrial mining permit to develop and operate the Houndé project.
The mining permit was valid from February 5 for 20 years and could be renewed for a further five years. The project was expected to benefit from the fiscal and other provisions of the current 2003 Mining Code.
“We are very pleased to receive the mining permit for the Houndé gold project. We have been reviewing the results of the [project's] 2014 exploration programme and are undertaking an update on [its] economics and anticipate updating the market on those results shortly.
“We look forward to the opportunity to add another mine to our portfolio in a country where we have had much success operating the Youga mine,” Endeavour CEO Neil Woodyer said on Friday.
Houndé was expected to produce about 180 000 oz/y of gold over eight years.
Endeavour owns and operates four gold mines in West Africa, including the Agbaou gold mine, in Côte d’Ivoire; the Tabakoto gold mine, in Mali; the Nzema gold mine, in Ghana; and the Youga gold mine, in Burkina Faso.