Name of the Mine
Sabodala-Massawa mine.
Location
About 640 km south-east of Dakar, in Senegal.
Mine Owner/s
Endeavour Mining (90%) and the Senegal government (10%).
Brief Description
Sabodala-Massawa is the biggest producing gold mine in Senegal. It comprises two mining licences and two further exploration permits.
Brief History
The Sabodala mine has been in production since 2009.
Endeavour Mining acquired the Sabodala-Massawa complex from Teranga Gold in February 2021, which included the Sabodala mill and deposits, and the nearby Massawa deposits.
Primary Metals/Minerals
Gold.
Secondary Metals/Minerals
None stated.
Geology/Mineralisation
The Sabodala-Massawa mine district occurs in the West African (Birimian) Paleoproterozoic metallogenic province, which extends from Senegal and Mali until north-eastern Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso and as far east as Niger. The region includes several world-class gold deposits such as Loulo and Sadiola, in Mali, and Ashanti (Obuasi), in Ghana.
The mining concessions and exploration permits straddle two major divisions of the inlier: the volcanic-dominated Mako Supergroup to the west and the sediment-dominated Diale-Dalema Supergroup to the east.
Reserves
Total proven and probable reserves as at December 31, 2021, were estimated at 66.4-million tonnes grading 2.08 g/t gold.
Resources
Total measured and indicated resources as at December 31, 2021, were estimated at 110.1-million tonnes grading 1.94 g/t gold. Inferred resources were estimated at 24.26-million grading 2.16 g/t gold.
Mining Method
Openpit, with underground potential.
Major Infrastructure/Equipment
The mine includes a 4.2-million-tonne-a-year whole-ore leach plant and includes facilities for crushing, grinding, leaching and carbon-in-leach (CIL) cyanidation; acid wash and elution; electrowinning; bullion smelting; carbon regeneration; and tailings disposal. Support infrastructure includes a secure water harvesting and storage facility, a site heavy fuel oil power station, accommodation and recreation facilities for nonlocal staff, an airstrip, an openpit mining fleet, a tailings storage facility and all the necessary offices, warehouses and workshops to sustain the operation.
It also has a 1.2-million-tonne-a-year refractory ore treatment plant.
Prospects
A definitive feasibility study completed on the possible expansion of the Sabodala–Massawa mine in 2022 recommended supplementing the 4.2-million-tonne-a-year CIL plant with a 1.2-million-tonne-a-year Biox plant to process the high-grade refractory ore from the Massawa Central Zone and Massawa North Zone deposits, with first gold production expected in early 2024.
Contact Details
Endeavour Mining
Tel +44 203 011 2723
Email info@endeavourmining.com
Website https://www.endeavourmining.com/
Sources
Teranga Gold Corporation. Sabodala-Massawa project prefeasibility study National Instrument 43-101 technical report (August 21, 2020.
Endeavour Mining. Corporate presentation May 2022.
Endeavour Mining. Website: https://www.endeavourmining.com/ [accessed May 31, 2022].