Name of the Project
Sabodala-Massawa gold mine expansion.

Location
About 630 km east-southeast of Dakar, in Senegal.

Project Owner/s
Endeavour Mining acquired a 90% interest in the Sabodala-Massawa mine in February 2021, as part of its acquisition of Teranga Gold Corporation. The remaining 10% of the mine is held by the Senegal government.

Project Description
The Sabodala-Massawa mine comprises several openpit operations on the highly prospective Birimian Greenstone Belt. 

Nonrefractory ore is treated at a four-million-tonne-a-year carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant that achieved commercial production in November 2009. 

Endeavour expedited the completion of the initial upgrades at the existing CIL plant in 2021, and simultaneously advanced the definitive feasibility study for the addition of a refractory ore processing plant to confirm the economic viability of processing the high-grade refractory ores from the Massawa Central Zone and Massawa North Zone deposits. 

Endeavour launched the construction of the 1.2-million-tonne-a-year BIOX circuit in 2022, to process the large refractory ore resource. 

The expansion is expected to add 194 000 oz/y of incremental production over the first five years. Production is anticipated to increase above 400 000 oz from 2025.

Potential Job Creation
The project has a workforce of 1 640 people.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a 5% discount rate and $1 700/oz gold price, of $1.13-million and an internal rate of return of 83%, with a payback of 1.3 years.

Capital Expenditure
The project is estimated at $290-million.

Planned Start/End Date
First gold pour from the BIOX plant is expected in early 2024.

Latest Developments
Wet commissioning activities are under way at the project.

The project is 91% complete, with the first gold pour scheduled for early May 2024, as expected.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Lycopodium Minerals (DFS); Minescope Services (consulting on the process plant); Metso-Outotec (BIOX and milling technology); Land and Marine Geological Services (design and execution of the tailings storage facility); QGE (power station expansion engineering services and management of the delivery of the power station expansion by an original-equipment manufacturer on a lump-sum turnkey basis).

Contact Details for Project Information
Endeavour Mining, tel +44 203 011 2723 or email info@endeavourmining.com.