AMN - COTE D’IVOIRE: Ity construction ahead of schedule

Construction of Endeavour Mining Corporation's Ity Carbon-in-Leach (CIL) Project in Côte d'Ivoire is tracking two months ahead of schedule and remains on budget. The first gold pour is now expected to occur early in the second quarter of 2019 rather than mid-2019 as previously planned.

Overall project completion stands at over 75% and more than 6 million man-hours have been worked with zero lost-time injuries.

Nearly all the $412 million initial capital cost has been committed and about 65% has been spent.

Process plant construction is over 70% complete, tracking ahead of schedule as the Ball and SAG mill installation started three months earlier than initially planned. Structural, mechanical, piping and electrical installation work is well underway.

Tailings storage facility (TSF) earthworks are progressing well against schedule with over 70% completed and rubber lining has commenced.

The 90kv transmission line and 29MW power station construction are progressing well against schedule with over 70% completed and first power drawdown is expected to occur in quarter one of 2019.

The haul road bridge, to access the Daapleau pit, is 92% complete, with substructure concrete completed.

Construction of the employee permanent camp is complete with all 312 rooms available for occupation. The resettlement program is progressing well against schedule with over 90% completed.

More than 2800 personnel, including contractors, are employed on-site, about 90% of which are locals.

President and CEO Sébastien de Montessus said: “I'd like to thank the construction team for their hard work and excellent progress achieved so far. Completing the construction sooner is expected to result in material improvement to our 2019 free-cash flow generation potential as Ity CIL will be a low-cost operation with AISC expected to be below $500/ounce over its first 5 years.”

COO and executive vice-president projects Jeremy Langford added: "The experience that our in-house construction team has gained from our previous builds in the region, the early installation of the Ball and SAG mills, combined with the excellent progress made during the rainy season, have been key factors which have helped advance the Ity CIL construction ahead of schedule.

“We are also particularly pleased with the continued strong safety track record with zero lost-time incidents to date."

The Ity CIL project began construction in September 2017 and is being carried out by Endeavour's in-house team following their successful completion of the Houndé and Agbao constructions.

The optimised study, published in September 2017, demonstrated the significant potential for Ity, which has already been in operation for more than 20 years, to become another flagship asset for Endeavour.

Ity CIL project is expected to produce about 204,000 ounces annually for the first 10 years, at a low AISC of $549/ounce with robust economics which includes an after-tax NPV5% of $710 million based on a gold price of $1250/ounce.

www.endeavourmining.com