Endeavour Debuts Maiden Resource for Greenfield Gold Target

Endeavour Mining (TSX:EDV) announced a maiden resource estimate for the Lafigué target, located within its Fetekro exploration property in Côte d’Ivoire, on Monday (October 29). 

The new resource estimate encompasses about two-thirds of the total mineralized area defined to date, which extends over an area 2.5 kilometers long by 600 meters wide. Mineralization remains open at depth and towards the southeast.

“This maiden resource brings us one step closer to attaining our strategic objective of identifying a new project as part of our 5-year exploration strategy set in late 2016,” said Sébastien de Montessus, president and CEO of Endeavour.

“We are very pleased with the maiden resource as it demonstrates the prospectively of the Fetekro property. A second exploration campaign at the Lafigué target has been launched quickly with the goal of converting the inferred resources and extending the outlined resource,” added Patrick Bouisset, the company’s executive vice president, exploration and growth.

Endeavour also said that based on a recently completed gold-in-soil geochemical campaign, along withstructural mapping and ground/airborne geophysics campaigns that have been performed, 14 other nearby targets have been identified.

“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 standalone project,” Bouisset explained.

A 45,000-meter drill program has started and will continue into next year with a focus on Lafigué as well as testing new targets. An updated resource estimate is expected to be published in late 2019.

An infill drilling program has also been initiated at Lafigué. It is aimed at testing the extension and the continuity of mineralization while converting inferred resources into the indicated category.

A regional exploration program is also planned in 2019 to test nearby targets with the goal of delineating a maiden resource late next year.

“Based on the initial analysis of the ore characteristics and orebody shape, we believe it could be amenable to open pit mining as mineralization starts at surface while the preliminary metallurgical test work done suggests the potential for high gold recovery rates,” explained Bouisset.

Analysts at Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) are positive on this estimate as it “demonstrates the potential within Endeavour’s project portfolio.”

“Given the scale and grade of the resource, it’s near surface nature and attractive metallurgical recoveries, and the size of the land package and number of additional targets identified at the property, the Fetekro project could, with additional exploration, become an attractive growth project in Endeavour’s development pipeline,” the analysts state.

As of 12:52 p.m. EST on Monday, Endeavour was up 0.96 percent, trading at C$21.06.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Nicole Rashotte, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.