Endeavour makes first gold pour at Lafigué growth project
London – The Lafigué processing plant achieved its first gold pour on 28 June 2024 and commercial production was achieved on 1 August 2024, approximately one month after the first gold pour.
All circuits are operating in-line with expectations and during August, 241kt of ore was processed at a grade of 1.8g/t gold. Processing rates exceeded 7,700 tonnes per day, equivalent to 72% of nameplate capacity and overall plant availability was above 87% with average gold recovery rates above 95%.
During July and August, the throughput rate, plant availability and recovery rates exceeded our commercial production criteria for a period of at least 30 days and the project’s construction team completed the handover to the operation’s team.
The Lafigué mine is located towards the northern end of the Birimian aged Oumé-Fetekro greenstone belt, in north-central Côte d’Ivoire, approximately 500km from Abidjan by road. The Lafigué deposit is located in the northeast part of the Fetekro exploration permit, adjacent to existing infrastructure, including sealed paved roads and high voltage grid power. Endeavour has an 80% ownership stake in the Lafigué mine (with 10% owned by the Ivorian Government and 10% owned by SODEMI, a state-owned mining company) and a 100% ownership stake in the remainder of the Fetekro exploration licence.
Endeavour began exploration on the Fetekro property in March 2017, following a strategic assessment of its exploration tenements which identified the project as a top priority target. To date, only a limited portion of the Fetekro property has been explored, as the priority has been the delineation of the Lafigué deposit. A maiden Mineral Resource Estimate for the Lafigué deposit was published on 29 October 2018 and subsequently updated on 3 September 2019, 18 August 2020 and 15 May 2022. A Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) was published on 18 August 2020 and a Preliminary Feasibility Study (“PFS”) was completed with the effective date of 31 December 2020.
Construction of the Lafigué project in Côte d’Ivoire was launched in Q4-2022, following the completion of a Definitive Feasibility Study (“DFS”) which confirmed Lafigué’s potential to be a cornerstone asset for Endeavour. The 2022 DFS contemplates a 12.8 year LOM with average annual production of 203koz at a low AISC of $871/oz, with an initial capital cost of $448 million. The project DFS displayed robust economics at an $1,800/oz gold price assumption including an after-tax NPV5% of $870m and an after-tax IRR of 33%. First gold was poured on 28 June 2024 and commercial production was achieved on 1 August 2024. The Lafigué mine is expected to produce 90-110koz of gold at a sector leading AISC of $900-975/oz in H2-2024, inline with its initial guidance, with production increasing to approximately 200koz in FY-2025.
As at 31 December 2023, Proven and Probable reserves totalled 49.8Mt at 1.69 g/t containing 2.7Moz of gold and Measured and Indicated resources (inclusive of reserves) totalled 46.2Mt at 2.04 g/t containing 3.0Moz of gold.
Given the strong exploration potential, Endeavour is targeting the discovery of 1.2 – 1.8Moz of Indicated resources across the Lafigué mining permit and the wider Fetekro exploration permit area over the 2021 to 2025 period at a discovery cost of $14/oz. To date 0.6Moz, or 50% of the lower end of the target, has been discovered.
