Ity Mine PE26

 mine, or (mine/transformation)

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This is Mining permit PE26 which has an area of 25 km² and includes the Ity mine, the deposits ZiaNE and Walter, the Aires decommissioned heap leach pads, dumps Verse Ouest and Teckraie, and the surrounding areas most of which are west of the Cavally River. It was first granted in 1989 as Arrêté 197/MINES/DM/(14 October 1989) and was renewed several times, most recently as Arrêté 8-002/MIM/DGMG granted on 28 August 2014 for 10 years from 14 November 2014.

Gold was first discovered at Ity in the 1950's but modern production was not reported until 1991. Since then over its 20 year period Ity has been the longest operating gold mine in Côte d'Ivoire, having produced 1.2 million ounces of gold. The Société Minière d’Ity (SMI) was incorporated in 1983 to exploit the Flotouo deposit and it was from that mine the first gold was poured in 1991. In the 1990's SMI conducted significant exploration that discovered many new deposits and expanded current ones.

Over a period ownership changed several times until 2012, when La Mancha Holding purchased a large stake in SMI. La Mancha Holding is a privately-held gold investment company controlled by the Sawiris Family, headed by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris. In 2014 the Government of Côte d’Ivoire gave permission to an ownership change, and in 2015 Endeavour Mining announced a partnership with La Mancha Holding that would see Endeavour acquire La Mancha's indirectly held 55 % interest and then La Mancha would become a 30 % stakeholder in Endeavour. Since the agreement La Mancha has given US$63 million in cash and provided another US$200 million to support Endeavour’s growth. The CEO of La Mancha, Sébastien de Montessus, became President of Endeavour in late 2015 and CEO in mid-2016. The current ownership structure as of March 2018 of the Ity project is: 80% Endeavour, 10% government of Côte d’Ivoire, 10% Drogba group.