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West Africa-focused Endeavour Mining (TSX: EDV) has reported a 41% increase in reserves at its flagship Houndé mine in Burkina Faso after a large portion of the Kari Pump maiden estimate for measured and indicated resource was converted to reserves.
The company said it planned to start mining at Kari Pump, located about 7 km west of the Houndé processing plant, as soon as during the last quarter of this year.
The gold producer note Kari Pump holds a 7.3 million tonne reserve grading 3.01g/t for 710,000 ounces. It’s one of three discoveries made in the large Kari gold-in-soil anomaly which covers a 6km-long by 2.5km-wide area.
Endeavour plans to start mining at Kari Pump, located about 7 km west of the Houndé processing plant, before the end of 2019
Based on a gold price of $1,250 per ounce, the project’s gold reserves had been converted into probable reserves out of an indicated resource base of 796,000 ounces, representing a conversion ratio of 89%.
This increases the Houndé mine’s proven and probable reserves to 34.8-million tonnes, at a grade of 2.19 g/t gold, for 2.45-million ounces of gold.
The company highlighted that the Kari Pump discovery represented only 35% of the Kari gold-in-soil anomaly.
Endeavour president and chief executive, Sébastien de Montessus, said the company will soon publish drill results from the ongoing 2019 Houndé exploration program, which is mainly focused on the nearby Kari West and Kari Center discoveries. There, Endeavour we expects to define maiden resources and reserves before the end of the year.
