The Sabodala-Massawa Gold Mine, Senegal

In the savanna of Senegal's far southeast, the Sabodala-Massawa gold mine produced 273,533 ounces of gold in 2025 – more than any other mine in the country. It employs 2,829 people, paid 167 million US dollars to the Senegalese state in 2025 and keeps 1,500 hectares of its permit free for western chimpanzees. Since 2024, its gold has been available as traceable Single Mine Origin (SMO) gold, and we use it in our rings made with SMO gold.

Key insights

• Sabodala-Massawa is Senegal's largest gold mine. Operated by Endeavour Mining in the Kédougou region, it produced about 8.5 tonnes of gold in 2025 and supplied around 64 % of Senegal's gold in 2024, according to its operator.
• Much of the value stays in Senegal. In 2025, Endeavour paid 167 million US dollars to the state – around 19,600 US dollars per kilogram of gold – and spent 81 % of the mine's procurement with national and local suppliers.
• The mine sets aside land for chimpanzees. A 1,500-hectare No Go Zone within the mining permit protects critical habitat of the critically endangered western chimpanzee.
• The gold is recovered without mercury. The mine uses gravity, cyanide leaching and bio-oxidation, and Endeavour's conformance with the Responsible Gold Mining Principles is externally assured.
• Sabodala-Massawa gold is traceable to this one mine. An SMO member mine since 2024, it has its gold refined separately in Switzerland; Fairever uses it for rings made with SMO gold.

Table of contents

• Sabodala-Massawa at a glance
• Gold country Kédougou
  • Artisanal miners next door
• From a 1961 discovery to Senegal's largest mine
  • Who owns the Sabodala-Massawa mine?
  • How long will the mine produce?
• How is gold mined at Sabodala-Massawa?
  • Solar power beside the fuel oil plant
• What does the mine bring to Senegal?
  • Social investment and payments per kilogram
• Chimpanzees, water and safety
  • A No Go Zone for western chimpanzees
  • Water and safety
• Where the mine is contested
• Why Sabodala-Massawa gold is responsible gold
  • Externally assured principles
  • Selected as an SMO member mine
• From Kédougou to your workbench
• FAQs: The Sabodala-Massawa gold mine, Senegal
• Key takeaways
  • In a nutshell ...
  • Get active, be the change!
  • Further reading
• Sources

Sabodala-Massawa at a glance

Gold country Kédougou

The Sabodala-Massawa gold mine lies in Senegal's gold country. The Kédougou region in the far southeast is hot and dry for much of the year; rain falls mainly between June and October, around 1,130 millimeters a year.¹⁷⁶ The mine sits on the Birimian greenstone belt, a gold-bearing rock formation that runs through West Africa,¹ and the Niokolo-Koba National Park, a UNESCO biosphere reserve, lies within 50 kilometers.¹⁸

Artisanal miners next door

Kédougou is also the center of Senegal's artisanal gold mining, or orpaillage. In the most recent official surveys from 2016 to 2018, Senegal's statistics office and government counted around 31,000 to 32,500 artisanal miners producing about 4 tonnes of gold a year; 98 % of the country's artisanal mining sites are in the Kédougou region.¹⁹²⁰

For tens of thousands of families, this work is a livelihood. The problem is how the gold is recovered: according to Senegal's national action plan, artisanal miners used around 5.2 tonnes of mercury a year, 3.9 tonnes of it in Kédougou.²⁰ Worldwide, artisanal and small-scale gold mining accounts for 37 % of all mercury released into air, water and land.²¹ More in our guide to artisanal and small-scale gold mining.

From a 1961 discovery to Senegal's largest mine

Sabodala's gold was found more than 60 years ago, by geologists of France's Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM) in 1961. The Australian company Mineral Deposits Limited received the mining concession in 2007, and in March 2009, the Sabodala mine poured its first gold.⁶

The mine grew in steps. In 2010, it passed to Teranga Gold, which later added the neighboring Golouma and Kerekounda deposits.⁶²² In March 2020, Teranga bought the Massawa project, discovered by Randgold Resources, from Barrick and combined it with Sabodala.²³⁷ In February 2021, Endeavour Mining took over Teranga and, with it, the Sabodala-Massawa Complex.⁸

The latest step was a second processing plant for Massawa's refractory ore, which poured its first gold on April 28, 2024.²⁴ Production has moved with the ore: 358,000 ounces in 2022, 294,000 in 2023, 229,000 in 2024, when the new plant was still ramping up, and 274,000 in 2025.²⁵²⁶¹⁰ Abdoul Aziz Sy, managing director of the operating company SGO, sums it up:

"Six of the 10 tonnes of gold produced in Senegal in 2024 came from Sabodala."

– Abdoul Aziz Sy, Managing Director, Sabodala Gold Operations, November 2025²

Who owns the Sabodala-Massawa mine?

Endeavour Mining owns 90 % of Sabodala-Massawa, the State of Senegal 10 %.³ The state holds its share as a free-carried interest: it did not have to pay for it.¹⁷ Endeavour operates five gold mines in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso; in 2025, Sabodala-Massawa was its second-largest by production.¹

How long will the mine produce?

For many years to come. At the end of 2025, Sabodala-Massawa held proven and probable reserves of 2.77 million ounces of gold, about 86 tonnes, and measured and indicated resources of 5.19 million ounces.¹⁵²⁷ Endeavour expects a mine life of more than 16 years.³ Part of that future lies underground: in 2026, Endeavour budgeted 25 million US dollars to develop the first underground mine at Golouma.¹⁰

How is gold mined at Sabodala-Massawa?

Sabodala-Massawa mines its ore in open pits, with trucks and shovels. Underground mining at Golouma starts in the second half of 2026.⁵¹⁰

The ore then goes to one of two plants. Ore that releases its gold easily passes through gravity circuits and a carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant, where a dilute cyanide solution dissolves the gold and activated carbon catches it. Much of Massawa's gold is locked in sulfide minerals. For this refractory ore, a BIOX® plant first lets bacteria break down the sulfides, so that the cyanide can reach the gold.⁴

Sabodala-Massawa recovers its gold without mercury. Its flowsheet uses gravity, cyanide leaching and bio-oxidation, and SMO lists the mine as mercury-free.⁴¹¹ Unlike mercury, cyanide breaks down in the environment;²⁸ Endeavour manages it in line with the International Cyanide Management Code, with third-party audits at all its mines.²⁹ Cyanidation is the standard method for extracting gold worldwide.³⁰ More on the difference: gold mining's environmental impact.

Solar power beside the fuel oil plant

A 37-megawatt-peak solar plant with a 16-megawatt battery now supplies part of the mine's power.¹ It works alongside a 54-megawatt heavy fuel oil power station.³¹ In 2025, its first full year, the solar plant generated 47.2 gigawatt hours, according to SMO.³²

In 2025, the mine emitted 0.70 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per ounce of gold (Scope 1 and 2).¹³²

What does the mine bring to Senegal?

Sabodala-Massawa gives work to thousands of people. In 2025, 2,829 people worked at the mine: 1,297 employed by Endeavour and 1,532 by contractors. Of Endeavour's employees at the mine, 95 % are Senegalese and 10 % are women.¹ Many come from next door: in 2024, 45 % of the mine's employees were from the surrounding communities.³³

The mine also buys locally. In 2025, it spent 295 million of its 364 million US dollars of procurement with national and local suppliers – 81 %.¹ And it pays the state: Endeavour reports payments to the Senegalese government of 216 million US dollars in 2023, 211 million in 2024 and 167 million in 2025.¹

Social investment and payments per kilogram

In 2025, Sabodala-Massawa invested around 500 US dollars per kilogram of gold in local communities and paid almost 20,000 US dollars per kilogram to the state – both funded from the sale of its gold.³⁴

Of the 4.25 million US dollars in 2025, the mine spent 2.35 million on its own community projects, above all access to water and education. Another 1.9 million went to the Local Mining Development Fund, which receives 0.5 % of revenue under Senegal's mining law and finances projects the communities plan themselves.¹

One project goes back to SMO itself: in 2024, Endeavour and the SMO Foundation established a clinic near the mine for maternal, newborn and child health.³⁵

Chimpanzees, water and safety

A No Go Zone for western chimpanzees

Sabodala-Massawa shares its land with the critically endangered western chimpanzee. "Approximately 5-7% of the Senegalese chimpanzee population live on our Massawa concession," Endeavour writes.³⁶ The consultancy Digby Wells documented the animals for Massawa's previous owner in 2017 and 2018, with camera traps and field surveys; the area was classified as critical habitat.³⁷

In 2021, Endeavour created a 1,500-hectare No Go Zone within its mining permit to protect the chimpanzees' habitat.³¹¹ The measures include water points for wildlife, bush fire prevention, re-vegetation and protective walls between the pits and the forest. Endeavour says it works with local authorities and environmental bodies and combines "a scientific and a traditional knowledge approach."³⁶

Endeavour commits to no net loss of biodiversity value in this critical habitat, in line with the International Finance Corporation's Performance Standard 6; its biodiversity management plan was developed with a member of the IUCN's great ape specialist group, according to SMO.¹¹ In 2025, Endeavour also tested its nature strategy for the mine in a scenario analysis up to 2050, with the site's managers and stakeholders.¹

Water and safety

Sabodala-Massawa lies in a water-stressed area, so water reuse matters. Across its mines, Endeavour recycled or reused 68 % of the water it used in 2025. The company narrowly missed its 70 % target because of problems with the recycling system at Sabodala-Massawa for most of the year; these were resolved in the fourth quarter of 2025.¹

On safety, the mine recorded no fatalities from 2022 to 2025. Its lost time injury frequency rate was 0.14 in 2025.³¹

Where the mine is contested

Large mines change the land around them, and Sabodala-Massawa is no exception. Three issues stand out in Senegalese reporting.

• Resettlement. In 2017, under the previous owner, the mine resettled more than 4,000 people to a new site with 567 homes, according to Endeavour. In 2025, residents told Senegal's national news agency APS they had lost land, cultural sites and cemeteries, and that boreholes at the new site were not working.³⁸
• Artisanal miners. Artisanal miners lost sites to the mine, and some enter a secured pit at Massawa; according to APS, illegal mining there has cost more than ten lives. SGO, the news agency reports, relies on education and awareness.³⁸³⁹
• Taxes. In August 2026, Senegal's parliament set up an inquiry into tax waivers since 2014. The proposal for it names a tax claim against SGO of 140 billion CFA francs that was reportedly settled at around 14 billion in 2023. The inquiry has not yet published findings.⁴⁰⁴¹

Not everyone in Kédougou is convinced by the company's figures. On Endeavour's report of its economic contribution for 2025, Guimba Diallo of the civil society network Forum Civil said: "Far from bringing us transparency, this report only keeps us in the dark."⁴² More on such tensions: gold mining's social impact.

Why Sabodala-Massawa gold is responsible gold

Gold from Sabodala-Massawa is responsible gold in three specific ways: it is traceable to this one named mine through a segregated, independently audited chain; its operator's conformance with the World Gold Council's Responsible Gold Mining Principles and its conflict-free reporting are externally assured; and the mine recovers gold without mercury, protects 1,500 hectares of chimpanzee habitat, employs a 95 % Senegalese workforce and paid 167 million US dollars to the state in 2025.

More on our view: ethical gold.

Externally assured principles

Endeavour's conformance with the Responsible Gold Mining Principles is externally assured. The World Gold Council's ten principles range from human rights and labor to biodiversity, water and climate.⁴³ For Sabodala-Massawa, Endeavour reported conformance with external assurance for the first time in 2023.¹³ For 2025, the assurance firm Environmental & Sustainability Solutions concluded that Endeavour's RGMP report had been prepared "in accordance with the requirements of the Responsible Gold Mining Principles."¹

The same firm assured Endeavour's Conflict-Free Gold Report for 2025. It concludes that the gold from Endeavour's mines, including Sabodala-Massawa, "did not, in any way, contribute to armed conflict or human rights abuses."¹⁴

Endeavour has "zero tolerance for any form of child labour";⁴⁴ in 2025, "no substantiated reports of modern slavery, forced labour or child labour were identified" in its operations or supply chain.⁴⁵ The company does not buy gold from other producers or from artisanal miners.¹ More on standards in large mines: responsible large-scale gold mining.

Selected as an SMO member mine

Sabodala-Massawa was selected through SMO's benchmarking of member mines. SMO assesses both the mining company and the individual mine against frameworks such as the Responsible Gold Mining Principles, the IRMA Standard and the ICMM Mining Principles; in higher-risk jurisdictions, it applies enhanced due diligence before approval.⁴⁶ The mine reports its ESG performance every year, and SMO reviews it.³² More on the model: what is Single Mine Origin?

From Kédougou to your workbench

Sabodala-Massawa joined SMO in 2024, after Endeavour's Ity mine in Côte d'Ivoire.¹² Endeavour supplies SMO with gold from both mines.¹ The gold is refined separately at an LBMA-accredited refinery in Switzerland, and "an independent auditor checks that each batch from a mine gets refined separately from any other material."⁴⁷¹ SMO holds a Chain of Custody certification from the Responsible Jewellery Council, and every batch comes with a batch number and a QR code that identify the mine.⁴⁸⁴⁹ More: traceable gold.

SMO gold is priced close to conventional gold, with only a small surcharge for segregated refining and monitoring.⁴⁹ Charlie Betts, co-founder and managing director of SMO, sees it as a complement to certified artisanal gold, not a rival:

"I'm never looking to convert a Fairtrade customer into an SMO customer; I'm looking to convert a customer who hasn't engaged in the provenance of their material into a customer who has."

– Charlie Betts, Co-Founder and Managing Director, SMO, January 2025⁴⁷

In October 2025, Charlie Betts took three jewelers to the mine, among them James Amos of the British jewelry house Boodles.³⁵ Since 2025, Boodles has sourced its gold exclusively from Sabodala-Massawa.⁵⁰⁵¹

"I can't understand why everyone doesn't get involved with SMO Gold - it just makes sense to source your gold from a mine you know is doing good and having a positive social impact on the local community."

– James Amos, Managing Director, Boodles⁵¹

Fairever is the partner of the Betts Group and SMO for continental Europe, and we make rings with SMO gold from Sabodala-Massawa.¹⁶

"Most of the world's gold comes from large mines. Anyone who wants change there needs gold they can trace to a named mine – and an operator who publishes what it does. SMO gold from Sabodala-Massawa offers exactly that. It doesn't replace Fairtrade or Fairmined gold; it opens the door wherever larger volumes are needed."

– Florian Harkort, Founder, Fairever

FAQs: The Sabodala-Massawa gold mine, Senegal

Key takeaways

In a nutshell ...

• An industrial mine in a region of artisanal miners. The Sabodala-Massawa gold mine recovers its gold without mercury, in a region where tens of thousands of people mine gold by hand.
• Taxes, jobs and local purchases carry the impact. In 2025, around 19,600 US dollars per kilogram went to the state, and 95 % of Endeavour's employees at the mine were Senegalese.
• Room for chimpanzees. A 1,500-hectare No Go Zone protects critical habitat of the western chimpanzee inside the mining permit.
• Ask for the mine, not just the standard. Only gold traceable to a named mine, with published data, tells you what you are buying – so ask your supplier which mine your gold comes from.

Get active, be the change!

Our rings made with SMO gold from Sabodala-Massawa can be configured online for your customers.

Want rings made with gold you can trace to one named mine? Configure your rings made with SMO gold – or get in touch, and we will tell you more about Sabodala-Massawa.

Further reading

• The sourcing model behind Sabodala-Massawa gold: what is Single Mine Origin gold?
• What Sabodala-Massawa gold means for your products and claims: SMO gold from the Sabodala-Massawa mine.
• The wider industry, from methods to impacts: large-scale gold mining.

Sources

1. Endeavour Mining, Sustainability Report 2025, 2026, pp. 2, 7, 13, 23, 25, 44, 50, 56, 67, 72, 90 and 93–94. ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
2. Agence de Presse Sénégalaise (APS), via AllAfrica, Sénégal: Sabodala Gold Operations concentre 64 % de la production d'or sénégalaise en 2024, November 5, 2025. Translated by Fairever; original wording of the quote: “Six des 10 tonnes d'or produites au Sénégal en 2024 proviennent de Sabodala.” ↩ ↩
3. Endeavour Mining, Sabodala-Massawa mine, accessed September 2026. ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
4. Endeavour Mining, Sabodala-Massawa Mine, Senegal – NI 43-101 Technical Report, effective December 31, 2025, sections 13 and 17. ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
5. Endeavour Mining, Endeavour Reports Strong H1-2026 Results, July 30, 2026. ↩ ↩ ↩
6. Teranga Gold Corporation, Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2012, filed March 27, 2013. ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
7. Barrick Gold, Barrick Completes Massawa Transaction, March 4, 2020. ↩ ↩
8. Endeavour Mining, Endeavour Completes Teranga Acquisition to Create New Senior Gold Producer, February 10, 2021. ↩ ↩
9. Fairever calculation: 273,533 oz (footnote 1, p. 2) ÷ 32.1507 oz per kg ≈ 8,508 kg ≈ 8.5 t; 8,508 kg ÷ 12 ≈ 709 kg a month, rounded to 710 kg. ↩
10. Endeavour Mining, Endeavour Reports Strong FY-2025 Results, March 5, 2026. ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
11. SMO Gold, Sabodala-Massawa Mine – Fact Sheet, February 2026. ↩ ↩ ↩
12. Endeavour Mining, Single Mine Origin, accessed September 2026. ↩ ↩
13. Endeavour Mining, Sustainability Report 2023, 2024, pp. 3, 4 and 14. ↩ ↩ ↩
14. Endeavour Mining, Conflict Free Gold Report for the fiscal year ending 31 December 2025, including external assurance, March 2026, p. 5. ↩ ↩
15. Endeavour Mining, Reserves and Resources, as at December 31, 2025, 100 % basis, accessed September 2026. ↩ ↩
16. Fairever, internal information, September 2026. ↩ ↩
17. Endeavour Mining, Sabodala-Massawa Gold Mine, Senegal – NI 43-101 Technical Report, effective December 31, 2021. ↩ ↩
18. Endeavour Mining, Sustainability Report 2025 (footnote 1), p. 72: site screening within a 50-kilometer radius; the report describes the mine as “adjacent to” the Niokolo-Koba National Park, a UNESCO biosphere reserve. ↩
19. Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie (ANSD), Étude monographique sur l'orpaillage au Sénégal, July 2018 (reference period April 2016 – April 2017). ↩
20. Republic of Senegal, Plan d'action national pour l'extraction minière artisanale et à petite échelle d'or (EMAPE), National Action Plan under the Minamata Convention, November 2019 (2018 inventory). ↩ ↩
21. UNEP Global Mercury Partnership, Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM), accessed September 2026. ↩
22. Teranga Gold, Teranga Completes Stream Transaction, Acquisition of Remaining Interest in OJVG and Retires US$30 Million of Debt Facility, January 16, 2014. ↩
23. Barrick Gold, Technical Report on the Feasibility Study of the Massawa Gold Project, Senegal, NI 43-101 report, July 23, 2019. ↩
24. Endeavour Mining, Endeavour Achieves First Gold Pour at Sabodala-Massawa Expansion, April 29, 2024. ↩
25. Endeavour Mining, Endeavour Reports Strong FY-2023 Results, March 27, 2024. ↩
26. Endeavour Mining, Endeavour Reports Strong FY-2024 Results, March 6, 2025. ↩
27. Fairever calculation: 2,768,000 oz (footnote 15) ÷ 32.1507 oz per kg ≈ 86,095 kg ≈ 86 t. ↩
28. International Cyanide Management Institute, Cyanide Facts, accessed September 2026. ↩
29. Endeavour Mining, Responsible Waste and Tailings Management – Fact Sheet, 2025. ↩
30. Daniel Stapper, Can Cyanide be a Responsible Alternative to Mercury for planetGOLD Communities?, planetGOLD, January 24, 2022. ↩
31. Endeavour Mining, Sabodala-Massawa Site Visit, presentation, November 2024. ↩ ↩
32. SMO Gold, Sabodala-Massawa Mine, member mine page, accessed September 2026. ↩ ↩ ↩
33. Endeavour Mining, Sustainability Report 2024, 2025, p. 3. ↩ ↩
34. Fairever calculation; production 293,747 oz (2023), 229,114 oz (2024) and 273,533 oz (2025) (footnote 3), divided by 32.1507 oz per kg: 9,137 kg, 7,126 kg and 8,508 kg. Payments to the state (footnote 1, p. 23): 216 million ÷ 9,137 ≈ 23,641; 211 million ÷ 7,126 ≈ 29,609; 167 million ÷ 8,508 ≈ 19,629 US dollars per kg. Total social investment: 2.2 million (footnote 13, p. 3) ÷ 9,137 ≈ 241; 5.4 million (footnote 33) ÷ 7,126 ≈ 758; 4,251,694 (footnote 1, p. 44) ÷ 8,508 ≈ 500 US dollars per kg. For 2025, the overview on p. 2 of the same report gives 4.5 million US dollars; we use the detailed table on p. 44, which matches SMO's figure (footnote 32). Per-kilogram values vary with annual production. ↩
35. Jill Newman, How Traceable, Responsibly Sourced Gold Could Reshape the Future of the Industry, Robb Report, February 4, 2026. ↩ ↩
36. Endeavour Mining, Protecting the Chimpanzees at Sabodala-Massawa, August 5, 2022. ↩ ↩
37. Digby Wells, Massawa Gold Project – Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, project story, 2019. ↩
38. Agence de Presse Sénégalaise (APS), Bélédougou : le difficile quotidien des villages riverains des sociétés minières, April 13, 2025. ↩ ↩
39. Agence de Presse Sénégalaise (APS), À Kédougou, la ruée vers l'or alimente une économie parallèle, February 6, 2026. ↩
40. La Vie Sénégalaise, Le groupe PASTEF propose une commission d'enquête sur les exonérations fiscales et les abandons de recettes, August 10, 2026. The proposal refers to a claim of 140 billion CFA francs and to a letter from the finance minister dated March 31, 2023, which reportedly asked for the procedure to be concluded at around 14 billion CFA francs. ↩
41. Agence de Presse Sénégalaise (APS), Assemblée nationale : six commissions d'enquête parlementaire ratifiées à l'unanimité, August 20, 2026. ↩
42. Agence de Presse Sénégalaise (APS), Contribution économique de Endeavour Mining : des acteurs locaux de Kédougou « perplexes » face aux chiffres annoncés pour l'exercice 2025, March 23, 2026. Translated by Fairever; original wording: “Ce rapport, loin de nous apporter de la transparence, ne fait que nous maintenir dans un flou.” ↩
43. World Gold Council, Responsible Gold Mining Principles, accessed September 2026. ↩
44. Endeavour Mining, Human Rights – Fact Sheet, 2026. ↩
45. Endeavour Mining, Modern Slavery Statement 2025, 2026, pp. 3–4. ↩
46. SMO Gold, Member Mines, accessed September 2026. ↩
47. Kate Youde, The Traceability Program That's Going for the Gold, Rapaport Magazine, January 30, 2025. ↩ ↩
48. SMO Gold, About us, accessed September 2026. ↩
49. SMO Gold, FAQs, accessed September 2026. ↩ ↩
50. Professional Jeweller, Boodles on its sustainability goals, interview with Aastha Sethi, April 15, 2026. ↩
51. Boodles, SMO Gold, accessed September 2026. ↩ ↩