Located 480km northwest of Abidjan in southern Côte d’Ivoire, Ity mine follows open pit mining method.
In exchange for the additional 5% stake in the Ity mine, Endeavour granted DYD International Holding, a company owned by Didier Drogba, 1,072,305 common shares amounting to a total consideration of approximately $15m (C$20m) based on the signing reference share price of C$18.50 ($13.9).
Following the 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% interest.
In December 2018, the company completed the sale of its non-core Tabakoto mine in Senegal to Algom Resources, a subsidiary of BCM International. The sale was announced in September last year.
As part of the transaction, the company will retain its greenfield exploration tenements located more than 20km north of the Tabakoto processing plant, on trend with Randgold’s Loulo mine. These relate to a portion of Kofi tenement and the Netekoto tenement.
After further discussions, the two companies have agreed to amend the terms of the sale of Tabakoto mine. The sale price has been increased to $70m and it includes an upfront cash payment of $35m, with $10m in deferred cash to be paid this year and 10% net smelter royalty on the Dar Salaam deposit, capped at a maximum of 200,000 ounces of gold.
The Tabakoto gold mine is located about 360km west of Bamako in southwestern Mali, near the country’s border. The company owns ranges from 80% to 90% depending on the pits and the remaining are owned by the government of Mali.
Endeavour Mining is engaged in project development and exploration in the highly prospective Birimian greenstone belt in West Africa. The company is focused on offering both near-term and long-term growth opportunities with its project pipeline and its exploration strategy, while generating immediate cash flow from its operations.
Endeavour operates four mines across Côte d’Ivoire (Agbaou and Ity) and Burkina Faso (Houndé, Karma) which were expected to produce 555-590koz last year at an AISC of $760-810/oz.
