Business
Endeavour Mining Reaches Agreement to Increase Ity Mine Ownership to 80%
Abidjan, May 11, 2017 - Endeavour Mining Corporation (TSX:EDV)(OTCQX:EDVMF) is pleased to announce that it has reached a price agreement with the Government of
About this update from Endeavour Mining Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"Abidjan, May 11, 2017 - Endeavour Mining Corporation (TSX:EDV)(OTCQX:EDVMF) is pleased to announce that it has reached a price agreement with the Government of Côte d'Ivoire to increase its stake in the Ity mine from 55% to 80%. The President of Côte d'Ivoire, his Excellency M. Ouattara, has provided notification that his government has approved the previously announced in-principal agreement for SODEMI, the state-owned mining company, to sell a 25% shareholding in the Ity mine to Endeavour. Under the terms of the agreement, Endeavour will pay a one-off sum of US$52 million plus US$5 per ounce of additional reserves added post December 31, 2016. The acquisition should be effective in the coming weeks, once the legal documentation is executed. Sébastien de Montessus, President & CEO of Endeavour, stated: \"We are delighted to have concluded this agreement with our long-standing partners at Ity, which demonstrates the willingness of all parties to progress with the development of the Ity CIL project for the benefit of all stakeholders. This is an important step in continuing to develop our internal growth strategy as Ity has the potential to become one of our flagship assets, in addition to Houndé which is on schedule for a first gold pour in the fourth quarter. We now look forward to moving to a formal investment decision in the coming weeks which would allow our experienced in-house construction team to smoothly transition from Houndé to building the Ity CIL project in the second half of 2017. We are currently optimizing last year's published feasibility study, which will most likely result in upsizing the previously announced 3mtpa plant design to better capture the value generated from recent exploration discoveries and to take into account the area's significant additional exploration potential.\" ABOUT THE ITY MINE AND CIL PROJECT Ity has the longest operating history of any gold mine in Côte d'Ivoire, with gold first discovered near the village of Ity in the 1950s and the first modern gold production reported in 1991. Ity has produced more than 1.2 million ounces of gold in its 20-plus years of operation from heap leaching. The feasibility study, published in November 2016, demonstrated that upgrading the heap leach facility to a Carbon-in-Leach (\"CIL\") plant has the potential to extend Ity's mine lif...