West African gold producer Endeavour Mining delivered record financial results in the March quarter backing up earlier predictions by CEO Ian Cockerill that the company could more than double its minimum forecast returns to shareholders.
Endeavour had previously stated it would return a minimum dividend of $1bn to shareholders consisting of $300m for financial year 2026; $325m for financial year 2027 and $350m for financial year 2028 provided the realised gold price over the dividend period stayed above $3000/oz.
Cockerill commented that, “at prevailing gold prices Endeavour expects to return at least $2bn to shareholders through approximately $1bn of minimum dividends and $1bn of supplemental dividends and share buybacks.”
Endeavour is the largest gold producer in West Africa with five operating mines in Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Burkino Faso and an extensive exploration programme targeting the discovery of 12m – 15m oz of gold resources by 2030 of which up to 9m oz will be from near-mine brownfields exploration.
For the March quarter Endeavour produced 282,000oz of gold at an AISC (all-in sustaining cost) of $1,834/oz generating record EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of $880m and free cash flow of $631m. The company held net cash of $405m at end-March.
Cockerill added “our financial strength gives us the flexibility to simultaneously start construction at Assafou and deliver on our sector leading shareholder returns programme.”
He said the recently completed definitive feasibility study (DFS) for Assafou confirmed that this “cornerstone” project would underpin Endeavour’s planned growth to a total annual production of 1.5m oz by 2030.
Cockerill commented Endeavour remained on track to deliver its production guidance for the year to end-December of 1.09m to 1.265m oz of gold within an AISC guidance range of $1,600/oz to $1,800/oz.
