Modern Mining July 2019

GOLD

to be Kalana in Mali, acquired from Avnel in 2017 for US$122 million. Avnel completed a positive DFS on the project in 2016 which examined a long-life (18-year), 101 000 oz a year mine. Endeavour expects to take advan- tage of its construction and operations expertise and exploration experience to redesign and optimise the project and an updated feasibility study is expected later this year. The company knows Mali well, having previously operated the Tabakoto mine in the country, which was recently sold to Algom Resources. Endeavour’s annual production is expected to total between 615 koz and 690 koz in 2019 with the goal being to increase this to plus 800 koz by 2021 at an AISC below US$800/oz with a reliable production pipeline extending at least 10 years out. The company is one of the most active gold explorers in Africa with annual exploration spend being in the region of US$60 million. It has a five-year discovery target of 10 to 15 Moz at a cost of discovery of less than US$20/oz. The current exploration programme – launched in late 2016 – has been hugely successful thus far, with the latest achievement being the growth of the high-grade (3,20 g/t) Le Plaque deposit at Ity from 85 koz to 476 koz. The deposit is located just 6 km south of the new CIL plant and, along with seven other new targets, enhances the prospects of Ity’s life extending well beyond the currently envisaged 14 years. Report by Arthur Tassell, photos courtesy of Endeavour Mining

collector drains within low-lying areas of the TSF basin and a leakage collection and recov- ery system (LCRS) installed beneath the basin liner. Closure at the end of the mine life will require covering the surface with 0,3 m of low permeability mine waste and 0,2 m of top soil. The facility is designed to be raised in annual stages over the mine life using downstream embankment construction techniques. The mine has a power supply of 33 MW from CIE, Côte d’Ivoire’s national electricity utility. The connection to the grid was made early this year, with 98 % availability now being achieved. The mine is also equipped with a 29 MW genset-based backup power station; this automatically starts up in the event of grid failure and can be synchronised with the grid for seamless running in the event of planned maintenance. A fuel reserve of 1,7 Mℓ – suffi- cient to run the plant for 10 days and mining operations for 30 days – is maintained. The cost of grid power is around 12,7 US cents per kWh while the cost of genset power is approximately twice this. Accommodation for employees is provided by a state-of-the-art permanent camp with 312 rooms. It features a fully equipped gym, as well as a squash court, a tennis/basketball court and a bar. The blockwork buildings were con- structed using mainly local labour. Ity brings the number of mines in Endeavour’s portfolio to four, the others being Houndé, of course, and Karma, both in Burkina Faso, and Agbaou in Côte d’Ivoire. Its fifth mine is likely

The 312-room permanent employee camp at Ity.

Endeavour has a five-year

discovery target of 10 to 15 Moz at a cost of discovery of less than US$20/oz.

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