Multinational miner Endeavour Mining, which owns and operates gold mines in Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Senegal, continued to make progress against its strategic objectives in the first quarter of this year, CEO Ian Cockerill says.

“Our operational performance is tracking in line with our group guidance, as production and costs are expected to progressively improve throughout the year, with performance strongly weighted towards the second half, as our two organic growth projects ramp up, and we expect significantly stronger performance from our Houndé mine,” he notes.

“We were delighted to have achieved first gold at the Sabodala-Massawa expansion project on April 18, and at our second growth project, Lafigué, we have now started dry commissioning and are on track to deliver first gold late in the second quarter, a quarter ahead of schedule.

“Lafigué will be the fifth growth project that we have completed over the last ten years, all of which have been built on budget and on schedule in two years or less.

“As we transition out of this phase of growth, we will renew our focus on optimising our existing assets and continue developing our talented projects team, ahead of the next phase of growth,” Cockerill says.

He adds that exploration at the Assafou deposit on the Tanda-Iguela property continues to demonstrate the project’s potential to become another cornerstone asset for Endeavour.

“The aggressive drilling programme has further extended the mineralised trend at the Assafou deposit by over 400 m, while drilling at potential satellite targets, in close proximity to Assafou, has also yielded promising results.”

Endeavour produced 219 000 oz of gold at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of $1 186/oz in the first quarter.

Production decreased quarter-on-quarter, driven by the expected lower production at Houndé, owing to the focus on stripping activity in the first half of this year to provide access to higher grades in the second half of the year, and at Sabodala-Massawa, owing to lower grades mined from the Sabodala pit as the pit approaches the end of its economic life, in line with the mine sequence.

Production was also impacted on by the previously disclosed 11-day stoppage to production at Houndé owing to a subcontractor-led strike in January which impacted the quarter. The mine’s full-year guidance remains unchanged.

AISC increased by $239/oz quarter-on-quarter, largely owing to the lower levels of production and slightly higher processing costs owing to higher power costs in the dry season.

During the quarter, Endeavour paid its half-year 2023 dividend of $100-million to shareholders and completed $13-million worth of share buybacks.

“Since our first dividend payment in the first quarter of 2021, we have now returned $917-million to shareholders, equivalent to $211 for every ounce produced over the same period, demonstrating our commitment to paying supplemental returns.

“We have now finished our first shareholder returns programme and expect to outline the next phase of the programme early in half two,” Cockerill says.

He says that, despite investing over $235-million in organic growth, exploration and shareholder returns during the quarter, the group’s leverage remains healthy .

Also, as announced in August last year, Endeavour launched the construction of a 37 MWp photovoltaic (PV) solar facility and a 16 MW battery system at the Sabodala-Massawa mine, to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions, and lower power costs.

The capital cost of the solar project is $55-million, of which about $32.5-million, or 59%, has been committed, with pricing in line with expectations.

Endeavour points out that $12.4-million, or 23%, of the capital cost has been incurred as at the end of the first quarter, of which $6.8-million was incurred in the period and $45-million is expected to be incurred for the full-year.