AMN - BURKINA FASO: First gold pour at Houndé

After completing its first gold pour at the Houndé Gold Project in Burkina Faso, Endeavour Mining Corporation has had exploration success which could extend the project. The first pour on October 18 yielded approximately 980 ounces of gold and was completed ahead of schedule and below budget.

Exploration resumed in early 2017 with an initial reconnaissance drilling campaign aiming to test and prioritise various targets identified during the 2016 exploration strategic review.

This campaign validated Hounde’s significant exploration potential as high-grade mineralisation was intercepted at the Kari, Sia/Sianikoui, Bouere extension and Bombi targets. It also confirmed the presence of significant potential with a high-grade discovery in the eastern part of the 6km-long Kari geochemical anomaly.

The Kari target is a large gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly that covers a 6km-long by 2.5km-wide area, only 9km west of the processing plant and in proximity to an existing haul road that will be used to transport Bouéré ore to the mine.

Meantime, at the Karma mine, drilling has confirmed mineralisation at the Yabongso target and has discovered a parallel oxide structure east of the North Kao deposit, both of which are expected to be delineated into resources in Q1-2018 and add further potential to extend its mine life.

Of the first pour, Endeavour's president and CEO Sébastien de Montessus said, “We are proud to have successfully completed this major milestone ahead of schedule and below budget, with an exceptional safety record of over 6.5 million hours without a lost time injury.

“The addition of Houndé will significantly improve Endeavour’s portfolio quality as it is expected to double the group’s cash flow generation once fully ramped-up. 

“As we approach commercial production, I would like to acknowledge the hard work of our in-house construction team for successfully delivering Houndé and for their focus on diligently pushing forward our high-quality project pipeline. Most of the team has already transitioned to the Ity CIL project in Ivory Coast where construction is well underway."

Commenting on the exploration, executive president exploration and growth Patrick Bouisset said: "At Houndé, the high-grade drill results obtained at Kari Pump and at the other targets are very encouraging since they are in line with our objective of discovering and delineating higher-grade deposits which can complement production from the main Vindaloo deposit and extend its current 10-year reserve mine life at low AISC with a production profile of more than 200koz of gold per annum.

"We are very pleased with the exploration success achieved at Karma since we acquired the asset in mid-2016. Last year we successfully extended its mine life from 8 to beyond 10 years with the addition of North Kao, and the initial results of this year's campaign continue to be very encouraging as they suggest the possibility for further resource delineation.

“After confirming mineralization at the Yabongso target, we intend to also drill other selected high priority targets throughout 2018.”

www.endeavourmining.com