ENDEAVOUR Mining published details of exploration work at the Lafigué target of its Côte d’Ivoire prospect, Fetekro, where work began in March 2017. This was following a “… strategic assessment of its [the group’s] exploration tenements which ranked the property as a top priority target,” according to a company statement.
The exploration found a total of 6.8 million tonnes of gold-bearing ore at a grade of 2.25 grams per tonne (g/t) for gold of 494,000 ounces, and an inferred resource of three million tonnes grading at 2.25g/t for 225,000 oz in gold.
“This maiden resource brings us one step closer to attaining our strategic objective of identifying a new project as part of our five-year exploration strategy set in late 2016,” said Sébastien de Montessus, president and CEO of Endeavour Mining.
Said Patrick Bouisset, executive vice-president exploration and growth: “Looking ahead, we are excited by the 14 additional targets identified to date, which supports our belief that Fetekro has the potential to become a new stand-alone project”.
Endeavour Mining said in March that it would increasingly focus on exploration and green fields development in order to lock-in its medium- to long-term future. This follows two to three years of aggressive merger and acquisition activity. More recently, the company has been dispensing with assets that no longer fit its investment criteria.
For the 2018 financial year, Endeavour’s exploration budget was put at between $40m and $45m of which about 40% is dedicated to greenfield opportunities. Said Montessus at the time of the group’s year-end numbers presentation in March: “Our aggressive exploration efforts will also continue as we aim to develop more greenfield projects to secure our longer-term growth pipeline”.
