ENDEAVOUR Mining said on Monday it had poured first gold from its Sabodala Massawa expansion at its Senegal mine, two years after starting the $290m project.
The expansion, which Endeavour Mining said would transform Sabodala Massawa into a tier one gold mine, would ramp up to nameplate 1.2 million tons a year of ore by the third quarter of this year.
“We have commissioned the project and delivered first gold in only two years, marking the fourth capital project that we have completed in the last 10 years,” said Ian Cockerill, CEO of Endeavour Mining.
“All of these have been completed in two years or less, and have been delivered on schedule, on budget and with no lost time injuries,” he said.
Speaking at the group’s year-end results presentation in March, Cockerill said Endeavour’s project success would help it move on after firing former CEO Sébastien de Montessus on allegations of corruption.
“I still think there is potential for making the assets we have got sweat,” Cockerill said. In addition to Sabodala-Massawa, he identified the completion of the $448m Lafigué project in Côte d’Ivoire and the development of Tanda-Iguela project in Côte d’Ivoire, to be renamed ‘Assafou’, as key targets for this year.
Endeavour guided to 90,000 to 110,000 ounces in gold production from Lafigué once ramp-up begins in the second quarter. The mine has an nameplate capacity of about 200,000 oz/year. Cockerill said Assafou was one of West Africa’s “most significant low cost” discoveries.
A company investigation found that De Montessus diverted $20.9m in three transactions to a company in the United Arab Emirates between 2020 and 2021. The ultimate beneficiaries of the UAE company were unknown.
