11th Dec 2024 09:14
(Alliance News) - Endeavour Mining PLC on Wednesday said a pre-feasibility study at an Ivory Coast project confirms its potential to become a tier one asset for the company.
London-based Endeavour is a West Africa-focused gold producer with mines in Senegal, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso.
Endeavour said the study showed its Assafou-Dibibango project could produce 329,000 ounces of gold per year, at all-in sustaining costs of USD892 per ounce, for its first ten years.
The company said the initial capital for the mine is USD734 million with a 15-year life based on a maiden reserve of 4.1 million ounces.
Endeavour said the project shows robust economics with a post-tax net present value of around USD1.53 billion, and a 28% internal rate of return at a USD2,000 per ounce gold price.
The firm will now start a definitive feasibility study, which it expects to finish between late 2025 and early 2026.
This will also involve investigation of satellite deposits close to the Assafou site, and further resource expansion and definition.
Chief Executive Officer Ian Cockerill said: "We have defined a large, low-cost and long mine life project, capable of producing [330,000 ounces] a year over the first ten years, while remaining firmly in the lowest cost quartile.
"The attractive returns profile ensures this project will remain a capital allocation priority for us and it demonstrates our ability to generate highly value accretive projects, organically, through our pipeline."
The company said it will simultaneously move forward with the permitting process so that construction could potentially launch in the second half of 2026.
Shares in Endeavour Mining were up 1.8% at 1,527.00 pence in London on Wednesday morning.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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