Endeavour Mining Starts Construction at Hounde Gold Project

Endeavour Mining Corp. (TSX:EDV,OTCQX:EDVMF) announced that its Burkina Faso-based Hounde gold project has now entered the construction phase. The company has a 90-percent stake in the project.
As quoted in the press release:

The Houndé Project is expected to deliver average production of 190,000 ounces per year over a 10-year mine life at an AISC of US$709/oz, based on current reserves. The project is an open pit mine with a 3.0Mtpa gravity circuit/ Carbon-In-Leach plant. The initial capital cost is estimated at $328 million, inclusive of $47 million for the owner-mining fleet. The Project is permitted to commence operations and early earthworks have begun.

Neil Woodyer, CEO of Endeavour, commented:

With the ramp-up of Karma soon underway, and our operations delivering a strong performance, we are now well positioned to build the Houndé project, which will further lift the overall quality of our portfolio. Once in production, it will become our flagship low-cost mine and will rank amongst West Africa’s top tier cash generating mines. Furthermore, Houndé will benefit both from our construction track-record, demonstrated most recently at Agbaou, and our team’s operating experience in Burkina Faso.

The Project is fully-funded based on our expected pro-forma cash position following the completion of the True Gold acquisition, the mine equipment financing, and the undrawn portion of our revolving credit facility. However, rather than draw on our revolving facility, our objective is to fund the remaining capital needs from free cash flow. We have therefore prudently implemented a short-term Gold Revenue Protection program to secure and de-risk the necessary cash flows, providing comfort even if the gold price were to fall to $1,000/oz.

Click here to read the full Endeavour Mining Corp. (TSX:EDV,OTCQX:EDVMF) press release.