London- and Toronto-listed Endeavour Mining announces that wet commissioning activities are now under way at the Lafigué project, in Côte d’Ivoire.

The project is on budget, with construction now 94% complete, and the first gold pour is expected to take place in late June, a quarter ahead of schedule.

“Lafigué is set to become another cornerstone asset in Endeavour’s portfolio, with over 200 000 oz/y of production at an all-in sustaining cost below $900/oz over its initial 13-year mine life,” highlights CEO Ian Cockerill.

“Lafigué is a great example of our strong record of organic value creation. The project was discovered through our own ambitious exploration programme for a cost of $31-million, equivalent to an industry low discovery cost of just $12 per indicated resource ounce.

“Given its potential, we expedited the necessary technical studies before launching construction in the fourth quarter of 2022 and we have now started wet commissioning at the project in only 21 months from construction launch, and we continue to track ahead of schedule for first gold in late-June,” he adds.

Cockerill avers that this achievement reiterates the strength of the company’s exploration and project teams, which he says are underpinned by the high geological prospectivity and the favourable operating environment in West Africa.

“With the commissioning of the Lafigué project now underway and first gold production at the Sabodala-Massawa BIOX expansion achieved early in the second quarter of this year, Endeavour is well positioned to successfully execute its growth strategy, completing the current phase of investment, and transitioning to a more cash flow generative phase.

“We will continue to support our operations, optimisation initiatives and exploration, while we re-focus our capital allocation priorities on de-levering our balance sheet and increasing our commitment to shareholder returns,” Cockerill informs.

Wet commissioning of the crushing, milling and carbon-in-leach circuits at the Lafigué processing plant are under way, with first ore delivered to the crushing and milling circuits on May 24.

Mining equipment mobilisation has fully advanced and mining activities continue to accelerate according to schedule with 14.4-million tonnes of material moved since mining activities started in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Ore stockpiles currently stand at 1.6-million tonnes of ore grading 1.30 g/t gold containing 65 000 oz.

Initial capital expenditure for the project is $448-million, of which about $434.9-million, or 97%, has been committed to date, with pricing in line with expectations.