Endeavour Mining reports first gold pour at Lafigue

Endeavour Mining Corp. (EDV-TSX-LSE, EXK-NYSE) has achieved the first gold pour from the Lafigue mine in Ivory Coast, marking the successful delivery of the project construction on budget, one quarter ahead of schedule and 21 months after construction commenced.

Lafigue is expected to produce between 90,000 and 110,000 ounces of gold at a sector leading all-in-sustaining cost (AISC) of between US$900 and US$975 an ounce in 2023, with production expected to increase to 200,000 ounces in 2005.

Endeavour has an 80% stake in the Lafigue mine (with 10%-owned by the Ivorian Government and 10% owned by SODEMI, a state-owned mining company) and a 100% ownership stake in the remainder of the Fetekro exploration license.

As of December, 2023, proven and probable reserves at the site stood at 49.8 million tonnes of grade 1.69 g/t gold containing 2.7 million ounces of gold.

The Lafigue mine is the fifth project that Endeavour has built in West Africa in the last 10 years, all of which have been delivered on budget and on or ahead of schedule, in two years or less.

Commercial production and subsequent ramp-up to nameplate plant capacity of 4.0 million tonnes per annum is expected to be achieved in the third quarter of 2024.

Endeavour Mining share were largely unchanged on the news, easing 0.58% or 17 cents to $28.73 on volume of 335,690. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $33.48 and $21.11.

Endeavour Mining recently reported the first gold pour from its Sabodala-Massawa Biox expansion project in Senegal. The event marks the successful delivery of the Biox expansion project on schedule and on budget with no lost-time injuries.

Endeavour is one of the world’s senior gold producers and the largest in West Africa, with operating assets across Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso and a strong portfolio of advanced development projects and exploration assets in the highly prospective Birimian greenstone belt across West Africa.

Endeavour achieved that position after striking a deal three years ago to acquire another West Africa-focused company Teranga Gold Corp., in an all-share transaction worth $2.44 billion (US$1.86 billion).

The combination created a new top ten senior gold producer with average annual production of more than 1.5 million ounces from six core operating mines.

The combined company also has a development pipeline of six greenfield projects across the underexplored Birimian Greenstone Belt.

“We are proud to have achieved our first gold pour at Lafigue, which, alongside the first gold pour at the Sabodala-Massawa Biox expansion that we achieved in April, marks the successful completion of the recent phase of investment growth that we started in the second quarter of 2022,’’ said Endeavour CEO Ian Cockerill. “We now begin the second phase of increased cash flow generation, de-levering and enhanced shareholder returns,’’ he said.

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