Endeavour outlines maiden gold resource in West Africa
Endeavour Mining Corp. (EDV-TSX-LSE, EDVMF-OTCQX,) has announced a significant maiden resource at its Tanda-Iguela greenfield property in the Cote d’Ivoire.
The company said the Tanda-Iguela property has the potential to be another flagship asset for Endeavour, given the size of the maiden resource and its significant exploration potential as 10 additional targets have been identified.
A discovery known as the Assafou target contains a resource of 1.1 million ounces of gold in the indicated category (14.9 million tonnes at 2.33 g/t gold) and 1.9 million ounces in the inferred category (32.9 million tonnes at 1.8 g/t gold).
This project appears amenable to open-pit mining with minimal infrastructure requirements and Endeavour states that the property has significant exploration potential with only 20% of the identified mineralization delineated.
A 70,000-metre drill program is planned for the property in 2023 to delineate mineralization further and to test new targets.
Endeavour is one of the world’s senior gold producers and the largest in West Africa, with operating assets across Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso and a strong portfolio of advanced development projects and exploration assets in the highly prospective Birimian greenstone belt across West Africa.
Endeavour has achieved that position after recently striking a deal to acquire another West Africa-focused company Teranga Gold Corp., in an all-share transaction worth $2.44 billion (US$1.86 billion).
The combination created a new top ten senior gold producer with average annual production of more than 1.5 million ounces from six core operating mines.
The combined company also has a development pipeline of six greenfield projects across the underexplored Birimian Greenstone Belt.
Endeavour Mining shares were largely unchanged on Monday’s news, rising 0.69% or 18.5 cents to $26.98 on volume of 253,880. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $35.44 and $22.77.
“We are thrilled with the maiden resource at our Tanda-Iguela greenfield property in Cote d’Ivoire,’’ said Endeavour President and CEO Sebastien de Montessus. “It ranks as one of the most significant discoveries made in West Africa over the last decade and shows potential to be another flagship asset for the company,’’ he said.
The Tanda-Iguela property is located in the eastern part of Cote d’Ivoire within the Boundounkou Birmian greenstone belt, approximately 400 kilometres to the northeast of Abidjan and 30 kilometres from the border with Ghana
Due to the exciting positive assay results from the Assafou target, including multiple thick high-grade intercepts, most of the drilling was quickly focused on the target to define a maiden resource which is based on 303 drill holes, covering 58,388 metres.
In addition, ten other exploration targets have been identified within the Tanda-Iguela exploration licenses, and at least two (Broukro and Gbabango) are directly on trend with the prolific Assafou mineralised system.