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Agbaou mine, Côte d'Ivoire

30th June 2017

By: Thabi Shomolekae

Creamer Media Senior Writer

     

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Name: Agbaou mine.

Location: The Agbaou mine is located about 200 km north of Abidjan, in Côte d'Ivoire.

Holding and Controlling Company: Endeavour Mining owns 85% of the mine, with the remaining balance held 10% by the Côte d'Ivoire government and 5% by Société pour le Dévelopment Minier de la Côte d’Ivoire (SODEMI).

Brief Description: Agbaou is the second largest gold mine in Côte d’Ivoire by production. It is a conventional open pit mine with gravity/carbon-in-leach processing facilities. The mine employs contractors and Endeavour employees to recover gold.

Brief History: During the 1980s, gold mineralisation in bedrock was first reported and extensive exploration was conducted from 1988 to 1994 by a joint venture between BHP Minerals and SODEMI. The property was held by Goldivoire between 1996 and 2002.

The government of Côte d’Ivoire in 2004 granted Etruscan Resources Côte d’Ivoire (ERCI) the Agbaou exploration permit after this one had been withdrawn from Goldivoire. Etruscan Resources was acquired by Endeavour Mining in 2010 and construction of the Agbaou mine commenced in August 2012.

The mine, which was built ahead of schedule and under budget, achieved commercial production on January 27, 2014.

Products: Gold.

Geology/Mineralisation: The Agbaou area is underlain by rocks of the Archean-Proterozoic Man shield, which forms the southern half of the larger West African craton. The shear-zone-hosted gold mineralisation of the Agbaou deposit occurs within a sheared volcano-sedimentary succession that was subjected to lower green-schist facies metamorphism, forming the Birimian age Oumé-Fetekro greenstone belt, surrounded by granodioritic intrusions.

Gold occurs in a mesothermal auriferous sulphide (pyrite and pyrrhotite) assemblage associated with quartz veins. The quartz veins are characterised by a wide range of quartz-vein types, brecciation, boudinage, and sericitic and carbonate alteration, however, the mineralised quartz veins have a very distinctive texture that has been described as “mottled”. These veins are easily identifiable in the drill intersections and pit mapping.

Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves as at December 31, 2016, were estimated at 11-million tonnes, grading at 2.41 g/t gold.

Resource: Total measured and indicated resources as at December 31, 2016, were estimated at 13-million tonnes, grading at 2.39 g/t gold.
Inferred resources were estimated at 1.1-million tonnes, grading at 1.73 g/t gold.

Mining Method: Open pit.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The site is connected to the national electrical grid by 15 km, 91 KV electrical transmission line and substation at the site. Water supply comprises 71% recycled process water and 29% storage-dam water and/or water from boreholes.

The processing plant and administration facilities comprises the plant administration buildings, tailings storage facility and power supply and distribution.

Prospects: A follow-up exploration programme comprising several components is recommended for the Agbaou exploitation permit. The main objective is to establish additional mineral reserves for Agbaou and extend the mine life.

As part of the company’s 5-year exploration strategy Endeavour plans to identify 0.5-1.5 million ounces of gold at with about 45 000 m of drilling.

Contact: Endeavour Mining VP strategy and investor relations Martino De Ciccio.

Contact Details:
Endeavour Mining
Tel +4403 640 8665
Email investor@endeavourmining.com
Website https://www.endeavourmining.com

Edited by Sheila Barradas
Creamer Media Research Coordinator & Senior Deputy Editor

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