Endeavour commences mining high grade gold deposit
Endeavour Mining has announced that it has been granted a mining permit extension by the Burkina Faso Government, covering the full Kari Area at its Houndé Mine. The Kari Area hosts the previously announced Kari Pump, Kari West and Kari Center discoveries, in addition to the recently discovered Kari Gap and Kari South targets.
The Kari Area has been permitted as an extension of the main Houndé mining permit, thereby allowing the area to benefit from Burkina Faso’s 2003 Mining Code which includes a corporate income tax rate of 17.5%, a 10% free-carried State interest, and a royalty based on a 3% to 5% sliding scale linked to prevailing gold prices.
Endeavour completed over 60,000 meters of grade control drilling in Q2-2020 in anticipation of receipt of the permit while the haulage road was built last year to service the Bouéré deposit. As a result, mining activities have commenced, which is expected to increase H2-2020 average feed grade and position the mine to achieve the upper end of its production guidance range of 230-250koz.
“ We are pleased to have received consent to start mining in the Kari Area, beginning with the Kari Pump deposit, and we are grateful to the Burkina Faso Government for its extraordinary efforts to finalize this permit in spite of the unusual challenges resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
Endeavour has been keenly focused on creating value through the drill bit. Our success in moving Kari Pump from discovery to production in under three years underscores our aggressive exploration strategy and the value of our strong established government partnerships in West Africa. Getting the Kari Area permit was a key 2020 milestone and will positions us to achieve the upper end of our production target at Houndé as we benefit from mining higher grade ore at Kari Pump. The Kari Area continues to hold exciting upside potential and we will be providing an updated resource estimate for the entire area in the coming weeks,” Sébastien de Montessus, CEO of Endeavour, said.
Endeavour Mining is a multi-asset gold producer focused on West Africa, with two mines (Ity and Agbaou) in Côte d’Ivoire, four mines (Houndé, Mana, Karma and Boungou) in Burkina Faso, four potential development projects (Fetekro, Kalana, Bantou and Nabanga) and a strong portfolio of exploration assets on the highly prospective Birimian Greenstone Belt across Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Guinea.
