TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed Endeavour Mining continues to actively look for acquisitions, and has had several “near misses” on potential deals that did not end up closing for various reasons, CEO Neil Woodyer said on Monday.
“There is nothing to report, but we are maintaining a high level of activity, including numerous mine site visits,” he told analysts on a conference call.
The company continues to see a few acquisition possibilities and is working on some of them at the moment, Woodyer said.
He said in March the firm was looking in Central and South America and Africa, and was focused on producing assets.
Endeavour, which owns the Youga mine in Burkina Faso, produced 20 056 oz of gold during the first quarter of this year, at an average cash cost of $664/oz sold.
The quarter was weaker than the company would have liked, after a combination of sanding-related issues and grid power interruptions in February affected performance, senior VP for operations David Laing said.
He said the firm has taken steps to address both issues, and has seen improvements during April and May.
The company also signed a new three-year contract with its workers during the first quarter.
Full-year production is still on target to produce 84 000 oz this year at an average cash cost of about $600/oz. Costs will move downwards as production ramps up, Laing said.
Endeavour (known as Endeavour Financial until a September 2010 name change) last year bought the 45% it did not own in Youga owner Estruscan Resources.
The company is also exploring and studying satellite deposits around Youga in Burkina Faso, and owns the Agbaou gold project in the Cote d'Ivoire.
Drilling at Agbaou was interrupted in late March because of political unrest in the Cote d'Ivoire, but the company expects to restart the programme before the end of this month, Woodyer said.
The company will push forward with engineering studies to optimise the feasibility study on the project, and could make a decision before the end of the year on whether to go ahead with development.
Endeavour recently spun out a Namibian rare earths property that it acquired when it bought Etruscan last year, and now holds 38.5% in the new TSX-listed firm, Namibia Rare Earths Inc.
Endeavour Mining shares rose 5.99% on Monday, to C$2.30 apiece by 15:59 in Toronto.
Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter