Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Endeavour Mining (TSX, LON: EDV) said on Monday it had made a major greenfield gold discovery in Côte d’Ivoire, which has the potential to become a new flagship asset for the company.
The miner, which has several gold operations and projects in West Africa, has outlined a major maiden resource at the Assafou target on its 100%-owned Tanda-Iguela property.
Indicated resource for Assafou sits at 14.9 million tonnes at 2.33 grams a tonne (g/t) of gold for 1.1 million ounces. A further 32.9 million tonnes at a grade of 1.8g/t made an inferred resource of 1.9 million ounces of gold, Endeavour Mining said.
“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,” chief executive Sébastien de Montessus said.
The site has a low discovery cost of less than $10 for every indicated ounce of gold discovered and preliminary tests show high gold recovery rates exceeding 95%, he noted.
The company said the new discovery and exploration success across its portfolio helps it to say on track to achieve a discovering target of between 15 to 20 million ounces for the five-year period ending in 2025.
The announcement comes only a month after it announced the beginning of construction at its 2.7 million-ounce Lafigué project, also in Côte d’Ivoire.
Endeavour has a large footprint in Burkina Faso where it has been subject to a number of terrorist attacks over the past three years.
This year, the London-based company expects to churn out between 1.32 million and 1.4 million ounces of gold at all-in sustaining costs of $880 to $930 per ounce.
