ENDEAVOUR Mining has increased its stake in its Ity gold mine in Cote d’Ivoire to 85% from 80% after buying shares in the operation by a local company owned by Didier Drogba, a former Chelsea Football Club striker who also represented the west African country’s national team.
In exchange for the stake in the mine, Drogba’s DYD International Holding was paid just over one million shares in Endeavour Mining totalling $15m based on a share price in the Toronto-listed firm of C$18.50 per share.
Following this transaction, Endeavour owns 85% of the Ity mine, with the Government of Cote d’Ivoire owning 10% and SODEMI (a government-owned mining company) owning the remaining 5%, the company said in an announcement.
Endeavour Mining approved the Ity carbon-in-leach project in 2017 at a capital cost of about $412m. The expansion is scoped to have an average annual production in the first five years of 235,000 ounces of gold with all-in sustaining costs below $500/oz and an after-tax internal rate of return of more than 20%, assuming a $1,000/oz gold price.
