Lycopodium Wins $35M EPC Contract to Build Largest Gold Mine in Cote d’Ivoire

On 18 December 2024, Australian construction firm Lycopodium announced that it has won an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (#EPC) contract to build thelargest gold mine in Cote d’Ivoire. The construction contract follows the Front-End Engineering Design (#FEED) which Lycopodium has completed for the same project.

Canadian firm Montage Gold (TSXV: MAU) secured the exploitation right to the mine in July 2024. The company plans to invest USD 835 million to develop the mine. The mine is located near Kone in central Cote d’Ivoire northwest of Yamassoukro.

The gold reserve at the Kone mine is estimated at 174.3 million tonnes at a grade of 0.72 gram per tonne, representing an expected yield of more than 4 million ounces of gold.

Wheaton Precious Metals has already entered into an offtake agreement with Montage. On the other hand, Wheaton will also providing financing and get a stake in the mining venture. Other major shareholders in the largest gold mine in Cote d’Ivoire include the Lundin Group (19.9%) and Chinese firm Zijin Mining (9.9%). As a performance incentive, the top directors and officers of the Kone mine hold a total of 5.2% stake.

Lycopodium intends to take full advantage of local talent and sub-contractors on this project. In collaboration with the Technical College of Mankono, Montage expects to recruit 350 skilled workers will be recruited at the mine.

In the past, Lycopodium has worked on building up other mines in Cote d’Ivoire, notably the Seguela and Lafigue mines which were completed in 2023 and 2024 respectively. For the Kone mine, the construction work is projected to start in 2025 and will be completed by 2027.