Endeavour announces sale of its Agbaou gold mine
ABIDJAN – Endeavour Mining has announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell its 85% interest in its non-core Agbaou mine in Côte d’Ivoire to Allied Gold Corp for a consideration of up to $80 million with further upside through its equity exposure and a Net Smelter Return royalty.
Sébastien de Montessus, President and CEO of Endeavour, commented: “The sale of our interest in the Agbaou mine to Allied Gold is in line with our strategy of actively managing our portfolio to focus management efforts on high margin, long-life core assets.
Agbaou has been a highly cash generative asset which facilitated the organic development of Houndé and Ity, and given that it has now become non-core to Endeavour, we firmly believe that this transaction is in the best interests of all of Agbaou’s stakeholders, including the Government of Cote d’Ivoire, local communities and the employees themselves. This transaction will ensure mining activities can continue for many years to come through the creation of the Bonikro-Agbaou complex.
We are very proud of what we have accomplished at Agbaou as we have installed a strong and capable team, which is now led by an Ivorian General Manager, supported by a number of local employees in leadership positions, ensuring we leave behind a strong legacy. I want to thank our Agbaou employees for their huge commitment, professionalism and contribution to Endeavour’s evolution over the past years.”
Allied Gold is a private African operator which notably owns the nearby Bonikro mine. Following the transaction close, the Bonikro-Agbaou operation will be comprised of multiple open pits, two processing plants with a total milling capacity of over 5Mtpa, and will have the potential to produce over 285,000 ounces annually. Endeavour expects to capture the benefits of local synergies and exploration upside through its equity stake in Allied Gold and its NSR royalty.
Allied Gold Corp is a privately owned, Africa-focused gold company. Once the Allied Gold pending transactions close, they will own three producing assets (Agbaou and Bonikro in Cote d’Ivoire and Sadiola mine in Mali) and a strong project development pipeline (Sadiola Sulphide project in Mali and Dish Mountain in Ethiopia). The company also holds exploration acreage of 600km2 in El Sid, Egypt.
Allied Gold acquired the Bonikro mine in 2019. Bonikro’s Measured and Indicated resources, inclusive of reserves, as at December 31, 2019, stood at 25.5MT at 1.66 g/t Au containing 1.4Moz.
