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Endeavour Mining starts construction of its Hounde Project, its next low-cost gold mine
GEORGE TOWN, Grand Cayman, United Kingdom, April 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Endeavour Mining (TSX:EDV) (OTCQX:EDVMF) is pleased to announce that its 90%-owned
About this update from Endeavour Mining Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"GEORGE TOWN, Grand Cayman, United Kingdom, April 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Endeavour Mining (TSX:EDV) (OTCQX:EDVMF) is pleased to announce that its 90%-owned Houndé Project in Burkina Faso has entered the construction phase of its development, following approval from its Board of Directors. 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, stated: \"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.\" Houndé Project Highlights During the past year, a thorough review and optimization of the Houndé Project was completed and an implementation plan was established. The mining and ore processing schedules have remained unchanged since February 2015 while the operating and capital costs were fully scoped and optimized by Endeavour, with assistance from Lycopodium Minerals (\"Lycopodium\"). Table 1: Houndé Project Highlights Ownership 90% Endeavour, 10% Burkina Faso Reserve and Resources(2) P+P Reserves 31Mt at 2...