RE:RE:RE:WowIf that's what the market thinks, then I think it's wrong. I don't see management rushing with Houde, until/unless they're comfortable with the finances.
One thing to bear in mind, is that the company can't give the IMPRESSION of dragging its feet with Hounde, so as to keep the BF government sweet and ensure that the mining licence is granted. BF wouldn't be very happy if it felt Endeavour was "back burnering" Hounde. On the plus side, our management have demonstrated that they can bring a similar open pit operation into production very efficiently with the Agbao project, so that should improve their attractiveness to the BF govt, as a mining partner/taxpayer.
Finalising these licences is usually a slow process and Endeavour's management have no reason to rush it. ;0)
Once Endeavour has the licence, given the attractive economics, it could bring in a JV partner to share the CAPEX & reduce our share of the risk. Alternatively, they might be able to do an offtake deal that works for Endeavour shareholders as well as for the offtaker. Worth bearing in mind that mine financing is these guys original expertise, so they're well aware of the pitfalls and what makes an attractive risk/reward. No serious money will be spent for at least 6 months, so there's time to see how costs on our existing operations, the gold price and our consequential cash/debt position evolve over that period.
BTW I checked up on the CAPEX for the Kofi haul road in the Tabakoto NI43-101 report. It's $7m, so not too bad. The report shows steadily decreasing CAPEX at Tabakoto over the coming years, with 2014 being the heaviest year. Total CAPEX for Tabakoto of $78.7m is planned for 2014 (incuding the haul road and Kofi pre-strip), falling to just $27.9m next year. Most of this CAPEX relates to the transition to owner-mining and to Segala development. $38.3m was actually spent on Tabakoto CAPEX in H1. So, our existing projects should generate rising cashflows as time passes (though it looks to me like we might not see most of the benefit of this until 2015).
Cheers,
Mark