Endeavour Mining Corp. [EDV-TSX; EDVMF-OTCQX] announced that Measured and Indicated resources at its Houndé Mine in Burkina Faso have increased by 554,000 ounces to 4.5 million ounces following further resource delineation at the Kari Area.
Sebastien de Montessus, CEO, commented: “We are very excited to announce this resource update as it continues to demonstrate the Hounde Mine’s potential. Over 2.5 million ounces of Indicated Resources have now been discovered in the Kari area, ranking it as the largest resource in the Houndé Mine complex. Our ability in moving the Kari area from discovery to production in under three years underscores the success of aggressive exploration strategy and the value of our strong and established government partnerships in West Africa.
“Last year, the 1.0 million ounces of Indicated Resource delineated at Kari Pump led to a reserve conversion of over 700,000 ounces. We now look forward to quickly completing the work to convert the additional 1.5 million ounces of Indicated Resources delineated for the other deposits. With 84% of the Kari area resource grading above 2 g/t gold, we are confident we will achieve our goal of producing 250,000 ounces per year over a 10-plus-year mine life at Houndé by displacing lower-grade material.”
Updated Inferred Resources are now pegged at 481,000 ounces of gold.
Patrick Bouisset, Executive Vice President Exploration and Growth, said: “We are very pleased with the additional resources delineated at the Kari Area for a number of reasons. Firstly, the very favorable mineralization characteristics. A large portion of the resources is high grade, specifically those at Kari West. A large portion is also oxide and transitional material, while the Vindaloo deposit being mined currently is mainly fresh ore. These deposits are also amenable to open pit mining with potential strip ratios significantly lower than that currently being seen at the Vindaloo deposit and more than half of those at the high grade Kari Pump deposit. Lastly, the attractive metallurgy provides for potential gold recovery rates above 90%. As we continue to drill in the Kari Area later this year and into 2021, we are confident that we will continue to delineate resources along the Kari Center trend, which remains open. In addition, we are keen to start drilling.”