ENDEAVOUR Mining followed up the grant of a mining licence that locks in growth at its Houndé mine in Burkina Faso with an increase in measured and indicated resources (M&I).
M&I at Houndé increased by 554,000 ounces to 4.5 million oz following further resource delineation at the Kari Area, the property over which it was granted a mining permit earlier this month.
“Over 2.5 million oz of indicated resources have now been discovered in the Kari Area, ranking it as the largest resource in the Houndé mine complex,” said Sébastien de Montessus, CEO of Endeavour Mining.
The conversion of Kari from exploration to production was proof the company’s exploration strategy could work, he added.
Endeavour has played in mergers and acquisitions for most of its recent history, the last in May with the takeover of SEMAFO, the Canadian firm. But it has also embarked on an organic growth strategy focusing on Houndé as well as its Ity mine.
Including a previous discovery, Houndé has found enough new resources in order to sustain production at some 250,000 ounces a year for the next 10 years, Endeavour said on July 6.
It also announced it had started mining activities at the Kari Pump deposit with more than 60,000 metres of grade control drilling in the second quarter.
This is expected to result in Houndé reaching the upper end of production guidance which had been put at between 230,000 and 250,000 oz for the year.
