Overview
Stage | Pre-Feasibility |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Processing |
- Centrifugal concentrator
- Carbon re-activation kiln
- Dewatering
- Smelting
- Intensive Cyanidation Reactor (ICR)
- Wet Screening
- Gravity separation
- Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
- Carbon in pulp (CIP)
- Elution
- AARL elution
- Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
- Cyanide (reagent)
|
Mine Life | 9.5 years (as of Jan 1, 2020) |
An exploration progam of $7.0 million is planned for FY 2022. The Lafigué deposit remains the priority at Fetekro, while the longer-term focus is on delineating several identified targets in the central and west areas of the Fetekro property, where very little exploration drilling has been completed to date. |
Latest News | Endeavour Reports Positive PFS Results For Both Fetekro and Kalana, Confirming Strong Organic Growth Pipeline February 23, 2021 |
Source:
p. 19
Endeavour increased a stake in Fetekro project in Q4 2020.
La Mancha Côte d’Ivoire (LMCI) is 100% held by Ity Holdings, a fully owned subsidiary of Endeavour Mining Corporation (Endeavour), and has a 100% interest in the exploration permit.
Deposit Type
- Vein / narrow vein
- Mesothermal
Summary:
The Fetekro project, which includes the Lafigué gold deposit, is located in the northern end of the Oumé-Fetekro greenstone belt (lower Proterozoïc), a North-South elongated belt which is approximately 300 km long and 20 km wide. This belt is composed mainly of Birimian volcanosediments, consisting mainly of mafic to intermediate metavolcanics, felsic metavolcanics, and clastic metasediments, that are bound and intruded by granitoid complexes. Known gold deposits such as Bonikro and Agbaou are hosted within the same belt.
Lafigué deposit geology is a birimian volcanic complex mostly composed of mafic rocks, namely metagabbros / metanorites and metabasalts and felsic intrusive (granodiorite or tonalite) that occurs in the western part of the prospect. This volcanic complex is affected by a transpressive deformation and intruded by granodioritic bodies and quartz-porphyry dykes. Regional foliation varies in strike from N-S to N070° with gentle to intermediate / steep dips to the E and S (25°-65°).
The mineralisation is mainly controlled by an ENE-trending brittle-ductile thrust fault dipping 15° to 45° SSE. Mineralisation is mainly hosted by a network of Qz-Cb-To-Py-Po±Visible Gold quartz veins within sheared and altered brittle-ductile deformation zones of various thickness (few metres to some 10 metres and so). The alteration assemblage comprises Bt-Ser±To±Chl±Cb (Carbonates) and various amounts of disseminated Pyrrhotite and Pyrite (up to 5% or so).
At Lafigué, a prominent deformation zone is typically located at the contact zone between a mafic intrusive (gabbro) and mafic volcanics, whereby the contact also occurs with a felsic intrusive at Lafigué Nord. The shear zones are better developed at or near lithological contact zones, where competency contrasts favour the localisation of brittle-ductile shearing, permeability increase and enhanced hydrothermal fluid flow. However, these shear zones also appear in the core of massive intrusive or metavolcanic units.
The mineralisation has been recognised over 2 km along an ENE axis and the down dip extension has been demonstrated over 1 km so far.
Two types of mineralisation have been identified:
- An overburden mineralisation (transported material composed of quartz blocs and pebbles in a clayish matrix). This portion represents less than 5% of the deposit resources.
- Mineralisation is mainly hosted by a network of quartz veins. The succession of hydrothermal events associated with C-plane fracture phases and thrusting resulted in the formation of two ore-bearing, quartz-carbonatetourmaline-(chlorite-biotite-pyrrhotitepyrite-gold) in echelon extension vein generations. The textural and geochemical (minor elements and boron isotopy) features of the distinct tourmaline generations highlight the micro-scale record of fault-valve processes leading to the overall gold endowment of Lafigué deposit. The lodes generally occur on lithological or structural discontinuities, typically at the granodiorite edges, on C-planes or re-opening early Quartz-Carbonate veins. At the deposit scale, the lodes show pinch and swell figures both laterally and longitudinally with thicknesses up to 40 metre.
The Fêtêkro deposit resembles a typical shear zone deposit of the West African granite-greenstone terrane. Lafigue gold mineralisation can be associated with the low-sulphide quartz gold (of 03-077) deposit model of Laurence J. Drew (Drew, L., 2003, Low-Sulfide Quartz Gold Deposit Model. U.S. Geological Survey, p1-24).
The Fêtêkro deposit resembles a typical shear zone deposit of the West African granite-greenstone terrane. The deposit itself is associated with a major regional North South shear zone. The lithologies can be any form of sediment (volcanosediment) or igneous rock with the main feature being a shear zone between the two contrasting lithologies (metabasalt and metagabbro or metabasalt and intrusive).
Mineralisation may also be spatially related to the emplacement of intrusives. The gold mineralisation is mesothermal in origin and occurs as free gold in quartz vein stockworks and zones of silicification, associated with tourmaline, calcite, ankerite and pyrite. The gold mineralisation is found in linear zones in or near the contacts between two different rock types (Metabasalt and metagabbro or metabasalt and intrusive). This contact shows evidence of shearing. Alteration is weak to severe depending on the development of the system.
The final July 2020 interpretation included twenty-two mineralized zones / domains and four mineralised laterite zones, which collectively make up the deposit. The Lafigué deposits are separated into three main areas, Lafigué South, Lafigué Centre, Lafigué North and mineralised laterite are typical cross-Sections A-B-C-D-E showing the mineralised domains with the drillholes.
Summary:
The Fêtêkro prospect has not been mined commercially. Only artisanal mining has been observed. The quartz veins have been manually mined out and sorted.
Lafigué Gold Project is intended to be conventional open pit mining using a drill, blast, load, haul and tip mining cycle. Endeavour plan to contract out the mining to a suitable mining contractor whilst maintaining operation oversight. Given the high grades, this does not preclude future underground mining if the orebody extends at depth.
The saprolite and laterite is anticipated to be primarily free-dig, potentially requiring ripping. Production drilling of saprock and fresh material will be undertaken by top hammer drills drilling 127 mm diameter holes. As rock strengths increase, blasting will be utilised more regularly in the saprock with powder factors estimated at 0.36 kg/bcm. All the fresh rock will be blasted with powder factors estimated at 0.83 kg/bcm.
Loading will be undertaken by hydraulic excavators (100 t and 200 t operating weights) to provide a balance between mining selectively and productivity. Hauling will be undertaken by rigid body dump trucks (90 t capacity).
Ore will be tipped on:
- Strategic long-term (LT) stockpiles to increase the plant feed grade and for rehandle during later stage pre-strip.
- Run-of-mine (ROM) stockpiles for short-term rehandle to the crusher.
Waste will be tipped on:
- External waste dumps.
- Bund and road construction.
- Tails dam wall construction.
- Inpit backfill may be potentially available but has not been incorporated into the mining schedule.
The primary mining equipment will be supported by suitably sized ancillary and support equipment such as, but not limited to, dozers, graders, water carts and wheel loaders. This equipment will be
used for activities such as:
• Clearing and stripping of topsoil.
• Construction of haul roads and ramps (temporary and long-term).
• Pit, stockpile and dump floor maintenance.
• Ripping of free-dig material, if required.
• Dump face reshaping for rehabilitation, topsoil spreading, ripping, and seeding.
• Drill pattern preparation.
• Clean-up of spillage around pit, stockpile and dump working areas and haul roads and
ramp.
• Stockpile rehandle.
• Dust suppression on roads, loading and tipping areas.
• Fire fighting.
Flow Sheet:
Crusher / Mill Type | Model | Size | Power | Quantity |
Jaw crusher
|
.......................
|
|
|
1
|
Cone crusher
|
.......................
|
|
|
1
|
High Pressure Grinding Rolls (HPGR)
|
|
1.59m x 1.45m
|
2.2 MW
|
1
|
Ball mill
|
|
6.4m x 10.96m
|
7.9 MW
|
1
|
Summary:
Fresh ore – closed circuit secondary crushing with crushed ore storage, closed circuit High Pressure Grinding Rolls (HPGR) crushing with HPGR crushed ore storage and ball milling.
Oxide ore – open circuit primary crushing with direct feeding of the ball mill.
When processing fresh ore, mechanical availabilities of 70% for the closed circuit secondary crushing plant, 86.7% for the closed circuit HPGR crushing plant 91.3% for the remainder of the plant, supported by crushed ore storage and standby equipment in critical areas. When processing oxide ore, mechanical availability of 88.0% with direct feed of primary crushed ore to the ball mill.
The treatment plant design incorporates the following unit process operations:
- Primary jaw crushing to produce a coarse crushed product.
Fresh Ore
- Secondary cone crushing in closed circuit with a dry sizing screen to produce an intermediate crushed product
- A live secondary crushed ore stockpile, providing coarse crushed ore storage and reclaim to feed the HPGR crushing circuit
- Tertiary HPGR crushing in closed circuit with a wet sizing screen with undersize slurry reporting to the milling circuit via the mill discharge hopper. The circuit will achieve the target P80 grind size of 75 µm when processing fresh ore.
Oxide Ore
- Direct feeding of primary crushed ore to the ball mill feed chute.
Oxide and Fresh Ores
- A ball mill in closed circuit with hydrocyclones to produce a grind size of 80% passing (P80)
75 µm (micron).
The ROM pad will be used to provide a buffer between the mine and the plant. The ROM stockpiles will allow blending of feed stocks and ensure a consistent feed ore type, rate and grade to the plant. The ROM bin will be designed to accommodate both direct tipping from mine trucks and blended feed addition by FEL. A mobile rock breaker will be used to break any oversize rocks on the ROM pad.
A primary crushing, milling and downstream plant availability of 88% (454 dry t/h) was selected for when the plant is processing oxide ore. With the potential for ore handling problems due to wet and sticky oxide ore, the ball mill will be direct fed with primary crushed ore, with no surge capacity, resulting in the overall lower plant availability.
Closed circuit secondary crushing is required to achieve the fresh ore particle size suitable for downstream HPGR crushing. HPGR are sensitive to feed size and it is important that the top feed size is less than the HPGR operating gap. The feed size to the HPGR impacts on the HPGR tyre wear life with the wear life decreasing as the top size increases. A secondary closing screen aperture of 35 mm was selected for the secondary crushing circuit in order to maximise HPGR tyre wear life.
The primary jaw crusher, secondary cone crusher and dry crushing screen were sized by OMC based on the expected crushing circuit throughput rates, crushing and screening efficiencies and recirculating load.
An apron feeder was selected to draw material from the ROM bin being suited to both clayey oxides and harder primary ore. The apron feeder will discharge onto a vibrating grizzly which will allow crusher product sized ore to bypass the jaw crusher, reducing the load and wear on the jaw crusher.
On oxide ore, primary crushed material will bypass, via a diverter gate, to the oxide feed conveyor and will report directly to the ball mill feed.
Secondary crushed ore will report to a live stockpile with sufficient capacity to allow for regular maintenance at the primary and secondary crushers without interrupting feed to the HPGR. The stockpile will be covered to prevent rain increasing the crushed ore moisture and to minimise dust emissions from the crushed ore.
The HPGR and wet screen were sized by OMC based on the benchmarked HPGR design parameters,
expected HPGR circuit throughput rates, screening efficiency and recirculating load. The HPGR will operate in closed circuit with the wet milling screen with screen oversize reporting back to the HPGR feed (along with new feed) and screen undersize reporting to the milling circuit. All conveyors with material reporting to the HPGR will be covered to prevent rain increasing the HPGR feed moisture. The HPGR product will contain considerable oversize due to the pressure profile across the roll width, with little crushing occurring near the roll edges. Wet screening allows efficient screening down to fine sizes and as the size decreases, the overall process becomes more energy efficient due to reduced ball milling requirement. A closing screen aperture of 4 mm was selected for the HPGR circuit based on OMC experience with other HPGR operations. The HPGR product will be mixed with water in a re-pulping box to assist in de-agglomeration of the HPGR flake product to improve the subsequent wet screening process.
When treating fresh ore through the HPGR circuit, the ball mill will be reverse fed via the cyclone underflow. This will remove final product size material generated by the HPGR effectively reducing the new feed rate to the mill. This HPGR advantage has been taken into account when sizing the ball mill. The milling screen undersize will contain significant water (from the wet screening stage) and minimal additional water will be required to the mill discharge hopper. When treating oxide ore, the ball mill will be direct fed via the mill feed spout. Dilution water will be added to the mill feed and mill discharge hopper. The ball mill will be equipped with a variable speed drive and will typically be operated between 60% and 75% of critical speed. The ball mill has been sized based on fresh ore and will typically operate at 75% critical speed when treating fresh ore. When treating oxide ore, the mill will be operated at lower speeds (and lower ball charge) to minimise overgrinding of the softer material.
When treating fresh ore, the cyclones will be fed at lower slurry densities due to the high milling screen water addition and reverse feeding of the ball mill.
Processing
- Centrifugal concentrator
- Carbon re-activation kiln
- Dewatering
- Smelting
- Intensive Cyanidation Reactor (ICR)
- Wet Screening
- Gravity separation
- Agitated tank (VAT) leaching
- Carbon in pulp (CIP)
- Elution
- AARL elution
- Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
- Cyanide (reagent)
Flow Sheet:
Summary:
The Lafigué plant will process fresh and oxide ores and is expected to operate on either 100% fresh ore (possibly with a small portion of oxide) or 100% oxide ore. The fresh and oxide ores have different comminution and material handling characteristics with the fresh ore significantly more competent than the oxide ore. The ore types require different comminution flowsheets.
The plant design is based on a nominal capacity of 3.0 Mtpa of fresh ore and is expected to process 3.5 Mtpa of oxide ore. The plant will process either 100% fresh ore (possibly with a small portion of oxide) or 100% oxide ore. The plant feed schedule indicates that the life of mine (LOM) plant feed is 8% oxide / transition ore and 92% % fresh ore, with the majority of oxide ore processed in the first two years of operation.
Gravity Concentration
Gravity testwork indicated that 20 to 90% of the contained gold in the Lafigué ores is recoverable through gravity gold methods. The gravity cir ........

Recoveries & Grades:
Commodity | Parameter | Avg. LOM |
Gold
|
Recovery Rate, %
| 94.7 |
Gold
|
Head Grade, g/t
| 2.05 |
Projected Production:
Commodity | Units | Avg. Annual | LOM |
Gold
|
koz
| 200 | 1,985 |
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré.
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | |
Stripping / waste ratio
| ......  |
Waste tonnes, LOM
| ......  |
Ore tonnes mined, LOM
| ......  |
Total tonnes mined, LOM
| ......  |
Tonnes processed, LOM
| ......  |
Annual processing capacity
| ......  |
* According to 2020 study.
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Reserves at December 31, 2021:
Cut-off grades for the resources are as follows: oxide at 0.40g/t Au, transitional and fresh at 0.50g/t Au.
Cut-off grades for the reserves are as follows: 0.40g/t Au
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Probable
|
48.7 Mt
|
Gold
|
1.7 g/t
|
2,662 koz
|
Indicated
|
44.8 Mt
|
Gold
|
2.02 g/t
|
2,916 koz
|
Inferred
|
3.6 Mt
|
Gold
|
2.35 g/t
|
269 koz
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
Document | Year |
Corporate Presentation
|
2022
|
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2021
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2021
|
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2020
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