Endeavour Mining Corporation announces that its Board of Directors has approved the construction decision for its Ity CIL project at its mine in Cote d'Ivoire following the robust results obtained from its Optimization Study.
The project cost is expected to be $412 million, fully funded from existing sources of capital,
The Ity CIL Project Feasibility and Optimization studies have been conducted to analyze the economic viability of constructing a straight forward gravity circuit/Carbon-In-Leach ("CIL") plant as an alternate processing route to the current heap leach process. Following the publication of the November 2016 Feasibility Study ("FS"), an Optimization Study ("OS") was prepared to better capture the value created from the recent exploration success which has led to increasing the plant name-plate design from 3.0Mtpa to 4.0Mtpa. In addition, several changes have been made to leverage construction and operating synergies between Ity, Agbaou and Houndé.
Sébastien de Montessus, President & CEO, stated: "Today's study clearly positions Ity as our next flagship asset with robust project economics, a strong long-life production profile, and significant exploration upside. Its average annual production in the first five years of 235koz with AISC below $500/oz and an after-tax IRR of +20% even at a low gold price of $1,000 per ounce are proof of the compelling economics of the project.
With the upcoming first gold pour at Houndé and Ity CIL construction expected to be completed within 20-months, we remain on track to achieve our strategic milestones of becoming a +800,000 ounce per year gold producer with group AISC below $800 per ounce and mine lives above 10 years by 2019."
Jeremy Langford, COO, added: "We have optimized the Ity CIL project by maximizing the construction and operational synergies between Agbaou, Houndé and Ity, and by leveraging the same designs, components, equipment and spare parts where possible from one project to the other, along with incorporating our extensive construction expertise. The construction team is excited to transition from Houndé to Ity and to continue to build on its construction track-record.