Operations at Houndé mine in Burkina Faso to resume
Works at the Houndé mine, in Burkina Faso is set to resume. Endeavour Mining announced the firm worn a court case ordering the immediate end of a strike at the gold mine.
The strike, which began on January 21st, led to a halt in production at Endeavour’s second-biggest gold mine. The firm along with representatives from the mining ministry of Burkina Faso, attempted to facilitate talks between the workers and the company to resolve the strike. However, no resolution was reached prior to the court’s ruling. Additionally, Endeavour Mining fired its CEO Sébastien de Montessus due to an alleged irregular payment instruction totaling nearly $6 million.
Houndé project
The court has now ordered an immediate end to the strike, deeming it illegal and demanding the expulsion of protestors from the site. Despite the disruptions caused by the strike and the CEO’s dismissal, Endeavour Mining has set its production targets for the Houndé mine at 260,000–290,000 ounces for the year.
The Houndé project is located 250 km southwest of Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso. Infrastructure in the area includes a paved highway approximately 2.7 km from the mine site, a 225 kV power line as close as 200 metres in some areas and a rail line that extends to the port of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire approximately 25 km west of the deposit area. Houndé is an open-pit mine with a 3.0 Mt per year gravity circuit and carbon-in-leach plant. Gold recoveries average 93%. It reached commercial production in November 2017.
