AMN - COTE D’IVOIRE: Endeavour pours first gold at Ity

Endeavour Mining Corporation has poured first gold from the Ity CIL Project in Cote d'Ivoire four months ahead of schedule and under-budget. The first pour on March 18 yielded about 1,800 ounces of gold.

There have been around 135,160 tonnes of ore processed since ore was introduced into the CIL processing plant on February 20, 2019.

Commercial production is expected to be declared early in the second quarter with performance trial testing to begin soon. The crushing, milling and CIL circuits have quickly attained a stable annual nameplate capacity of 4 million tonnes.

Endeavour has launched optimisation and de-bottlenecking work which is expected to increase plant nameplate capacity to 5 million tonnes, at a minimal cost of $10-15 million.

The volumetric upsize work mainly comprises an upgrade in pipes and pumps, and a second 50-tonne oxygen plant with no additional mining fleet required.

These plant upgrades are expected to be completed during scheduled plant maintenance shut-downs throughout the next six months.

President and CEO Sebastien de Montessus said: "As we approach commercial production, I would like to acknowledge the hard work of our in-house construction team for successfully delivering the Ity CIL Project ahead of schedule and under budget, with an exceptional safety record of over 8.5 million hours without a lost time injury.

"This first gold pour and the remarkably quick ramp-up period is a transformational event for Endeavour as the Ity CIL Project will quickly contribute to the group's cash generation potential.

"Given its current 15-year mine life and strong exploration potential, our ability to increase the plant size by 1 million tonnes to 5 million tonnes for minimal additional capex represents a very compelling investment and is in line with our focus on capital allocation efficiency and return on capital employed criteria. With this upgrade, Ity has the potential to produce circa 300,000 ounces of gold per annum at a low AISC."

The Ity CIL project capex spend is tracking under-budget compared to the initial budget of $412 million.

As construction is tracking ahead of schedule and below budget, Endeavour decided to conduct additional works such as the construction of a fuel farm, building exploration facilities, and an additional $7 million of crop compensation and resettlement related to prospective exploration grounds.

Due to these additional works, and the $10-15 million required for the plant upgrade to 5 million tonnes, the total project capex spend is expected to amount to circa $420 million. 

An $11 million exploration program totalling about 71,000 metres of drilling is planned for 2019, with the aim of delineating additional resources at the Le Plaque target and testing other targets such as Floleu, Daapleu SW and Samuel.

Ity is expected to produce 160,000-200,000 ounces in 2019 at an AISC of $525-590/ounce, with the bottom-end of production guidance corresponding to the 4 million tonnes nameplate capacity while the top-end factors in upsides such as an earlier start date, an expedited ramp-up and the plant producing above its nameplate.

Endeavour Mining is a TSX-listed intermediate African gold producer which operates four mines across Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso. These are expected to produce 615,000-695,000 ounces in 2019 at an AISC of $760-810/ounce.

www.endeavourmining.com