Endeavour Mining (TSX:EDV) (OTCQX:EDVMF) is pleased announce positive drill results for the Fetekro greenfield exploration property, located in north-central Côte d’Ivoire approximately 500km from Abidjan.

Endeavour began exploration on the Fetekro property in March 2017, following a strategic assessment of its exploration tenements which ranked the property as a top priority target. Since then, a total of 312 Reverse Circulation and Diamond Drilling holes have been drilled, amounting to nearly 32,000 meters. Drilling mainly focused on the highly prospective Lafigué target where a large mineralized vein system was defined over an area 2.5km long by 0.6km wide, remaining open at depth and towards the east. All available data is being interpreted and a maiden resource estimate is expected to be published in Q4-2018 and a follow-up drilling program is scheduled to start in Q4-2018.

In addition, a gold-in-soil geochemical campaign was recently completed. Its preliminary assessment indicates the occurrence of additionnal targets located in proximity to Lafigué, where a drill program has been scheduled for 2019.

Patrick Bouisset, Executive Vice-President Exploration and Growth stated: “We are pleased to continue to deliver against our two key objectives from our 5-year exploration strategy outlined in 2016. Following the significant near-mine exploration success already achieved, in line with our first objective of extending mine lives, we are now excited to report the results from Fetekro, which is our most advanced greenfield exploration property.

The Lafigué target, located within the Fetekro property, has been the primary focus of our recent greenfield exploration program. The discovery of extensive mineralization over such a large area, coupled with the identification of nearby prospects, is very encouraging. We are eager to publish a maiden resource later this year, which may bring us one step closer to achieving our second key objective within our 5-year exploration program – that of discovering of a standalone greenfield project in West Africa.”

ABOUT THE FETEKRO PROPERTY

The Fetekro property corresponds to the PR 329 exploration license which covers approximately 247 square kilometers located in north-central Côte d’Ivoire, nearly 500km from Abidjan, as shown in Figure 1 below. Fetekro is located in the northern end of the Oumé-Fetekro greenstone belt which extends over 300km in a north/northeast direction within the Proterozoic Birimian series of central Côte d’Ivoire. This greenstone belt is composed primarily of volcano-sediments, consisting mainly of mafic to intermediate metavolcanics, felsic metavolcanics and clastic meta-sediments, that are bound and intruded by granitoid complexes. Known gold deposits such as Bonikro and Agbaou are hosted within the same belt.

Endeavour is the operator of the licence in joint-venture with Société pour le Développement Minier de la Côte d’Ivoire (“SODEMI”).

Historical drilling between 1998 and 2014 was sporadic, comprised of 1,803 meters of Reverse Air Blast drilled over 94 holes, 8,577 meters of Reverse Circulation (“RC”) drilled over 134 shallow holes and 4,165 meters of Diamond Drilling drilled over 52 holes.

Exploration was aggressively relaunched in March 2017, following the full reinterpretation of the historical data. Drilling mainly focused on the highly prospective Lafigué target, as shown in Figure 1 below, where a large mineralized vein system was defined over an area 2.5km long by 0.6km wide, while additionnal targets were identified through the preliminary assessment of the recently completed gold-in-soil geochemical campaign.

Figure 1: Simplified map of the Fetekro property showing the Lafigué prospect

ABOUT THE LAFIGUÉ TARGET – MAIN DISCOVERY TO-DATE AT FETEKRO

As shown in Figure 2, three main mineralized zones have been identified at the Lafigué target (Lafigué South, Center, and North), with Lafigué Center and North remaining open at depth and towards the southeast.

Figure 2: Lafigué discovery and selected intercepts per area (True width uncapped)

Some selected best intersects from historical and Endeavour drilled holes  include (true width uncapped): 

• D1297: 13.59m @ 7.33 g/t Au
• R0897 : 26.85 @ 7.97 g/t Au, (including 0.86m @ 17.55 g/t Au; 0.86m @ 33.20 g/t Au, 0.86m @ 25.60 g/t Au, 0.86m @ 13.25 g/t Au, 0.86m @ 83.65 g/t Au, 0.86m @ 10.98 g/t Au)
• R0797 : 16.45m @ 5.32 g/t Au, (including 0.86m @ 33.50 g/t Au, 0.86m @ 11.45 g/t Au, 0.86m @ 10.16 g/t Au)
• D0597B : 19.66m @ 3.71 g/t Au, (including 0.49m @ 26.20 g/t Au)
• LFDH02-15: 4.20m @ 15.60 g/t Au, and 7.00m @ 6.35 g/t Au, (including 1.15m @ 32.00 g/t Au)
• LFRC02-40 : 5.00m @ 7.88 g/t Au, (including 1.00m @ 19.30 g/t Au) and 12.00m @ 2.90 g/t Au, (including 1.00m @ 16.86 g/t Au)
• LFDD10-27 : 7.62m @ 13 .21 g/t Au, (including 0.60m @ 117.50 g/t Au)
• LF17-112 : 6.34m @ 5.48 g/t Au, (including 0.91m @ 17.50 g/t Au) and 15.41m @ 2.95 g/t Au, (including 0.91m @ 10.73 g/t Au)
• LF17-131 : 7.25m @ 4.15 g/t Au, (including 0.91m @ 10.41 g/t Au)
• LFDD17-243 : 5.38m @ 2.16 g/t Au and 5.70m @ 4.56 g/t Au, (including 0.65m @ 27.02 g/t Au)
• LFDD17-244 : 21.70m @ 5.13 g/t Au, (including 1.05m @ 20.39 g/t Au, 1.45m @ 35.13 g/t Au)
• LFDD18-402: 8.36m @ 2.91 g/t Au
• LFRC18-365 : 5.98m @ 5.19 g/t Au, (including 1.00m @ 26.78 g/t Au)
• LFRC18-373 : 12.95m @ 2.29 g/t Au, (including 1.00m @ 12.59 g/t Au) and 2.99m @ 2.63 g/t Au
• LFDD18-410 : 7.17 m @ 39.69 g/t Au (including 0.8 @ 12.73 g/t Au, 1.2m @ 70.77 g/t Au, 1.25m @ 15.49 g/t Au, 0.80m @ 186.50 g/t Au) and 10.86m @ 25.90 g/t Au, (including 1.30m @ 71.40 g/t Au, 1.34m @ 94.30 g/t Au, 1.39m @ 35.30 g/tAu) 
• LFRC18-385: 22.91m @ 2.86 g/t Au and 2.99m @ 3.34 g/t Au

Drill hole intercepts are calculated using a minimum down-hole length of 2 meters, a cutoff grade of 0.5 g/t Au, an internal dilution length of 1m and a missing interval grade of 0 g/t Au.

The Lafigué prospect is hosted by an east-northeast trending reverse faulting zone, which is locally bounded by two northeast-trending steep oblique-reverse shear corridors subparallel to the main Birimian structural grain. The lens-shaped mineralization of Lafigué appears to be hosted within a network of stacked and mineralized brittle-ductile reverse shear zones, dipping 20°-30° to the south-southeast. They developed mostly within the hanging-wall of a possible “basal thrust” which is either located at the contact between a mafic volcanics sequence and a mafic intrusive (as shown in the Lafigué Center cross-section in Figure 3 below) or between a mafic intrusive and a felsic intrusive (as shown in the Lafigué North cross-section in Figure 3 below).   

This “basal thrust” strikes northeast to north-northeast and dips gently to the south (about 30°S). Regional schistosity varies in strike from north-south to North 070° with gentle to intermediate/steep dips to the east and south (25°-65°).

Figure 3: Lafigué Center Cross-Section

Figure 4: Lafigué North Cross-Section

The shear zones appear to be better developed at, or near, lithological contact zones, where competency contrasts do favor the occurrence of brittle-ductile shearing, permeability increases and enhanced hydrothermal fluids flow. The typical high-grade mineralization is associated with Qz-Cb-To veins and related Bt-To-Ser alteration zones (tourmalinization of the host rock when alteration is intense) hosted by the gently south-dipping brittle-ductile shear zones. Visible gold can be observed in such veins. 

To date all preliminary test work results indicate a high gravity recoverable gold content and easy gravity tails leach with low final residues. In this preliminary test work, total gold recovery has been higher than 95%. 

Preliminary assessments of the recently performed gold in soil geochemistry indicates the occurrence of other nearby anomalies close by Lafigué. Once finalized, this analysis will help provide additional targets to be tested on PR 329 during 2019.

OTHER NEARBY TARGETS OUTLINED

As shown in the figure 5 below, the preliminary assessment of the recently performed gold in soil geochemistry indicates the occurrence of other nearby anomalies close by Lafigué. Some of these targets are expected to be drilled in 2019.  

Figure 5: Gold in soil geochemistry

NEXT STEPS

• All available data on the Lafigué target is being interpreted and a maiden resource estimate is expected to be published during Q4 2018.
• A follow-up drill program is scheduled to start in Q4-2018 and to be pursued in 2019 on Lafigué prospect and nearby identified targets.  

QUALIFIED PERSONS

The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed, verified and compiled by Gérard de Hert, EurGeol, Senior VP West Africa Exploration for Endeavour Mining. Gérard de Hert has more than 20 years of mineral exploration and mining experience and is a “Qualified Person” as defined by National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.  The 2017-2018 program is operated under the field direction of Silvia Bottero, Professional Natural Scientist and “Qualified Person” as defined by National Instrument 43-101. 

ASSAYS AND QUALITY ASSURANCE/QUALITY CONTROL / DRILLING AND ASSAY PROCEDURES

The Reverse Circulation drill program samples were collected on a 1-meter interval using dual tube, a percussion hammer and drop centre bit. The material passes through a cyclone which is thoroughly cleaned after every sample by flushing the hole. Samples were split at the drill site using a 3-tier riffle splitter with both bulk and laboratory sample weights and moisture recorded. Representative samples for each interval were collected with a spear, sieved into chip trays and retained for reference.

Drill core (PQ, HQ and NQ size) samples are selected by LMCI geologists and sawn in half with a diamond blade at the project site. Half of the core is retained at the site for reference purposes. Sample intervals are generally 1 meter in length.

All samples are transported by road to Bureau Veritas (BV) in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire). Each laboratory sample is secured in poly-woven bags ensuring that there is a clear record of the chain of custody. On arrival samples are weighed and crushed to 2mm (70% passing), pulverize entire sample to 75 micrometers (85% passing). Samples are analyzed for gold using standard fire assay technique with a 50-gram charge and an Atomic Absorption (AA) finish. Blanks, field duplicates and certified reference material (CRM’s) are inserted by LMCI geologists in the sample sequence for quality control and to ensure there are a suite of QC samples in each fire assay batch.

The sampling and assaying at Lafigué is monitored through the implementation of a quality assurance – quality control (QA-QC) program. This QA-QC program was audited by International mining consultant in 2017 and consequently designed to follow industry best practices.

ABOUT ENDEAVOUR MINING CORPORATION

Endeavour Mining is a TSX listed intermediate African gold producer with a solid track record of operational excellence, project development and exploration in the highly prospective Birimian greenstone belt in West Africa. Endeavour 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 5 mines across Côte d’Ivoire (Agbaou and Ity), Burkina Faso (Houndé, Karma), and Mali (Tabakoto) which are expected to produce 670-720koz in 2018 at an AISC of $840-890/oz. Endeavour’s high-quality development projects (recently commissioned Houndé, Ity CIL and Kalana) have the combined potential to deliver an additional 600koz per year at an AISC well below $700/oz between 2018 and 2020. In addition, its exploration program aims to discover 10-15Moz of gold between 2017 and 2021 which represents more than twice the reserve depletion during the period.