Modern Mining October 2016

GOLD

Endeavour discovers potential heap leach satellite deposit at Ity

T he Colline Sud mineralisation oc- curs at or very near the surface and in two distinct areas referred to as the South East and North West sectors, with respective strike lengths of 500 m and 350 m. The mineralisa- tion in both sectors remains open at depth and in the North West sector also along strike. Similar to other targets identified on the Ity property, Colline Sud is a historical gold-in-soil anomaly. A short shallow drilling campaign was first conducted to confirm mineralisation which was then followed-up with the recently completed 116-hole reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling (DD) programme total- ling 11 955 m. Patrick Bouisset, Executive Vice-President Exploration and Growth of Endeavour, com- mented: “This new discovery – the second announced at Ity since September – along with the other targets outlined by historic geochem- istry and our recent auger drilling programme demonstrates the prolific geological context of this district. “Though smaller than the recently announced Bakatouo discovery, we believe Colline Sud provides the potential to extend the current heap leach operation.” Some of the selected best intercepts include (estimated true widths): 6,7 m at 10,02 g/t Au including 1,0 m at 29,87 g/t Au; 13,1 m at 12,34 g/t Au including 1,1 m at 33,65 g/t and 0,5 m at 102,36 g/t Au; and 4,4 m at 33,31 g/t Au including 1,1 m at 93,14 g/t Au. The Colline Sud mineralisation is mainly hosted by surficial oxidised clays. In the South East sector it is oriented at N45 azimuth along strike and dipping on average at 55 deg to the NW. It sits above some enhanced dissolution TSX-listed Endeavour Mining Corp has announced a new discovery at its Ity gold mine in Côte d’Ivoire called Colline Sud. The oxide mineralisation encountered at Colline Sud – which is situated just 2,5 km from the current processing plant – could serve as a satellite deposit to potentially extend the current heap leach operation.

areas located at the contact between marbles and volcanosediments. Mineralisation is also hosted in volcanosediment and skarnoide mar- ble at depth. Endeavour believes the contact between carbonate and volcanosediments could rep- resent a possible shearing zone, which may have favoured posterior circulation of fluids linked with neighbouring intrusives. Skarns facies are also present, although less developed than in Mount Ity or in the recently announced Bakatouo discovery. A maiden resource is expected to be pub- lished during the fourth quarter of 2016 for both Colline Sud and Bakatouo. Endeavour intends to resume exploration in and around the Ity mine after the end of the rainy season in November, with up to six drill rigs expected to be operational. A follow- up 3 700 m RC and DD drilling programme is planned on Colline Sud to test the extensions and conduct infill drilling. In addition, an 8 000 m DD drilling campaign is also planned on Bakatouo. Similar to the Mount Ity and Zia Northeast deposits, the Bakatouo discovery is charac- terised by its high grade and close-to-surface oxide and fresh mineralisation suggesting potential to supplement both the existing heap leach operation and a future Carbon-in-Leach (CIL) project, for which a feasibility study is expected in Q4 2016. Ity has the longest operating history of any gold mine in Côte d’Ivoire, with gold first dis- covered near the village of Ity in the 1950s and the first modern gold production reported in 1991. It has produced more than 1,2 Moz of gold in its 20+ year operations. It is located approximately 480 km north-west of Abidjan. 

The Ity heap leach gold mine in Côte d’Ivoire (photo: Endeavour Mining).

Similar to other targets identified on the Ity property, Colline Sud is a historical gold-in-soil anomaly.

October 2016  MODERN MINING  33