ENDEAVOUR COMPLETES UPSIZE OF ITY CIL PLANT AND CONSOLIDATES THE ITY MINE TREND
HIGHLIGHTS:
CIL Plant Upsize
·CIL plant capacity increased by 25%, from 4Mtpa to 5Mtpa, completed on budget and on schedule
·The plant has achieved an annualized throughput exceeding 5Mtpa for the past two weeks
Ity Trend Consolidation
·Successfully consolidated the full 125km trend along the Ity Birimian belt with the acquisition of the Mahapleu tenement
·The Mahapleu tenement hosts an intrusive anomaly which has the potential to be similar in type and size to the one occurring at the Ity mine complex
·The Mahapleu tenement is now one of the highly ranked greenfield exploration licenses within Endeavour’s portfolio; ground surveys expected to be initiated in early 2020
Abidjan, November 21, 2019 – Endeavour Mining (TSX:EDV) (OTCQX:EDVMF) is pleased to announce the successful completion of the 25% volumetric upgrade of the carbon-in-leach (“CIL”) plant, from 4Mtpa to 5Mtpa, at its Ity mine in Côte d’Ivoire. The Company is also pleased to announce that it has obtained the highly prospective Mahapleu tenement, resulting in Endeavour now controlling the entire Birimian greenstone trend that stretches 125km along the Ity mine.
Sébastien de Montessus, President and CEO, commented: “Building Ity on time and on budget has been a key achievement for 2019. With the plant upsize now complete, we are well positioned for 2020 and beyond. We believe the increased plant capacity will help accelerate the value created through exploration.”
Patrick Bouisset, Executive Vice President Exploration and Growth added: “We are very excited to have consolidated control of the entire 125km Birimian corridor along the Ity mine. The Mahapleu tenement is a highly prospective area which remains unexplored despite being located within proximity to the Ity mine. With our primary exploration objective of extending mine lives beyond 10 years for both Houndé and Ity well on track, we can now focus on increasing our greenfield exploration efforts in Côte d’Ivoire with Mahapleu ranking high within our large greenfield portfolio, alongside Fetekro.”
PLANT UPSIZE
Following the commissioning of the 4Mtpa plant in April 2019, Endeavour launched optimization and de-bottlenecking work to increase the plant capacity by 25% to 5Mtpa for a minimal cost of between $10-15 million. Integration of components to achieve the increased throughput was carried out during the scheduled maintenance downtime with the plant achieving an annualized throughput exceeding 5Mtpa for the last two weeks.
As part of the volumetric upgrade, capacity of the following items was increased: variable speed drives for the primary apron feeder, vibrating grizzly, and lime screw feeder, tailings pumping and decant return, high pressure gland water supply, tailings pumping and a second 50t capacity oxygen plant. Upgrades to the tailings storage facility are ongoing.
ITY TREND CONSOLIDATION
The Mahapleu tenement was purchased for a minimal cash consideration and a royalty based on a sliding scale depending on the gold price (varying from 1% below $1,200/oz to 2.5% above $1,850/oz). Following this land consolidation, Endeavour now controls the whole extent of the Ity Birimian corridor that stretches nearly 125km, as shown in Figure 1 below.
An airborne Mag-VTEM survey was previously carried out on the Mahapleu tenement. The Mahapleu central area, known as Doui, appears to host a large intrusion which has the potential to be similar in type and size to the one associated with the large mineralization event that occurred at the Ity mine complex. Endeavour considers this area to rank high within its greenfield exploration portfolio and expects to initiate ground surveys in early 2020.
Figure 1: Endeavour Controlled 125km Ity Mine Corridor
QUALIFIED PERSONS
Clinton Bennett, Endeavour's Vice-President of Technical Services - a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, is a "Qualified Person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Martino De Ciccio
VP – Strategy & Investor Relations
+44 203 640 8665
mdeciccio@endeavourmining.com | Brunswick Group LLP in London
Carole Cable, Partner
+44 7974 982 458
ccable@brunswickgroup.com |
ABOUT ENDEAVOUR MINING CORPORATION
Endeavour Mining is a TSX listed intermediate African gold producer with a solid track record of operational excellence, project development and exploration in the highly prospective Birimian greenstone belt in West Africa. Endeavour is focused on offering both near-term and long-term growth opportunities with its project pipeline and its exploration strategy, while generating immediate cash flow from its operations.
Endeavour operates 4 mines across Côte d’Ivoire (Agbaou and Ity) and Burkina Faso (Houndé, Karma).
For more information, please visit www.endeavourmining.com.
Corporate Office: 5 Young St, Kensington, London W8 5EH, UK
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" including but not limited to, statements with respect to Endeavour's plans and operating performance, the estimation of mineral reserves and resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of future production, future capital expenditures, and the success of exploration activities. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expects", "expected", "budgeted", "forecasts", and "anticipates". Forward-looking statements, while based on management's best estimates and assumptions, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: risks related to the successful integration of acquisitions; risks related to international operations; risks related to general economic conditions and credit availability, actual results of current exploration activities, unanticipated reclamation expenses; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; fluctuations in prices of metals including gold; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, increases in market prices of mining consumables, possible variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery rates; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes, title disputes, claims and limitations on insurance coverage and other risks of the mining industry; delays in the completion of development or construction activities, changes in national and local government regulation of mining operations, tax rules and regulations, and political and economic developments in countries in which Endeavour operates. Although Endeavour has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Please refer to Endeavour's most recent Annual Information Form filed under its profile at www.sedar.com for further information respecting the risks affecting Endeavour and its business. AISC, all-in sustaining costs at the mine level, cash costs, operating EBITDA, all-in sustaining margin, free cash flow, net free cash flow, free cash flow per share, net debt, and adjusted earnings are non-GAAP financial performance measures with no standard meaning under IFRS, further discussed in the section Non-GAAP Measures in the most recently filed Management Discussion and Analysis.
Figure 1 Endeavour Controlled 125km Ity Mine Corridor
Endeavour Controlled 125km Ity Mine Corridor