8,500m Infill Drilling Commenced and Update on Mine Schedules for the Fully Permitted La Mestiza Open Pit.
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http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/3976B_1-2021-6-9.pdf
Condor Gold (AIM: CNR; TSX: COG) is pleased to announce that is has commenced an 8,500 metre infill diamond drilling programme within the permitted La Mestiza Open Pit Mineral Resource at La India Project, Nicaragua. Two diamond core drill rigs are currently operating on Mestiza and have drilled approximately 600 metres to date. The programme is anticipated to take a further 4 months to complete. Condor is also pleased to provide updated preminarly mine schedules on La Mestiza Open Pits conducted by SRK Consulting (USA) Inc, based on the existing Mineral Resource and in support of the 8,500 metre drilling programme.
Highlights
· Existing La Mesitza Open Pit Mineral Resource hosts 433kt at 8.6g/t gold for 120,000 oz gold (92kt at 12.1 g/t gold for 36,000 oz gold in the Indicated category and 341kt at 7.7 g/t gold for 85,000 oz gold in the Inferred Category).
· 8,500m infill drilling programme has commenced on the high-grade La Mestiza Open Pit aimed at upgrading Mineral Resources to Indicated category such that it forms a basis for inclusion into future Pre-Feasibility or Feasibility Studies .
· The Mestiza Vein Set is open down dip and along strike and has the potential for a material increase with additional drilling.
· Preliminary mine schedules indicate the potential to deliver 499kt of high grade material to the processing plant at a diluted head grade of 5.37 g/t gold, with the potential to produce 86,000 oz gold.
Mark Child, Chairman and CEO commented:
“Following the purchase of a new SAG mill package in April 2021, Condor engaged SRK Consulting (USA) Inc to produce strategic mine schedules on the high-grade fully permitted La Mesitza Open Pit Mineral Resource, which hosts 433kt at 8.6g/t gold for 120,000 oz gold (92kt at 12.1 g/t gold for 36,000 oz gold in the Indicated category and 341kt at 7.7 g/t gold for 85,000 oz gold in the in the Inferred Category). The schedules developed indicate a potential feed to the processing plant estimated at 499kt, at a diluted head grade of 5.37 g/t gold with potential to produce 86,000 oz gold. The aim of the 8,500m infill drilling programme in La Mestiza open pit is to convert a significant proportion of the Inferred Mineral Resource to an Indicated Mineral Resource for inclusion in future Pre-Feasibility Study or Feasibility Studies, enhance the geological confidence, de-risk future mine plans and attract project financing.”
Drill Programme
The current Mineral Resource estimate dated 25 January 2019 (see RNS dated 28 January 2019 and Table 1 below) on the Mestiza Vein Set defines an open pit Mineral Resource of 432kt at 8.6g/t gold (92kt at 12.1g/t gold for 36,000 oz gold in the Indicated category and 341kt at 7.7 g/t gold for 85,000 oz gold in the in the Inferred category), and an underground Mineral Resource of 118kt at 5.5g/t gold in the Indicated category and 984kt at 5.3 g/t gold for 169,000 oz gold in the Inferred category . The 8,500 metres infill drilling programme will target the part of the Mineral Resource that is considered to have the potential to support open pit mining, focussing on the 85,000 oz gold that is currently catagorised as Inferred. The drilling will ‘tighten up’ the drill spacing from the current mix of 50 m to 100 m spacing to a regular 25 m along strike and 50 m down-dip. The objective of the drilling program is to improve the confidence of the geological model and future mine schedules, aiming to upgrade a significant proportion of the Inferred open pit Mineral Resource to the Indicated Mineral Resource category for use in future Pre-Feasibility or Feasibility level studies.
The Mestiza Vein Set is located only 3 km from the permitted processing plant on La India Project (see Figure 1). The Mestiza Vein Set is open along strike and down dip and has the potential to be materially increased with further drilling.
Drilling will be accomplished with a combination of PQ and HQ diamond drilling bits, with half-core samples shipped to Bureau Veritas in Managua for sample prep and to Bureau Veritas’ facilties in Vancouver, B.C. for assaying.
Table 1 Mineral Resource Estimate – Mestiza Vein Set (January 2019)
Mesitza Open Pit Mine Schedules
SRK Consulting (USA) Inc has recently produced strategic mine schedules based on the fully permitted La Mestiza Open Pit Mineral Resource, as detailed above. The study has looked to optimise the potential material exploitable by open pit mining methods acting as a strategic planning tool for the Company. The updated study has expanded on the separation of the ultimate pit by phase, now representing 9 phases compared to 4 phases previously envisioned. The phase design assumptions include: 40 to 42 overal pit angles, 10m road width, 5 m benches with 2.5 m flitches, waste mined at 10m benches. Various production rates were considered with a 500tpd schedule with low grade stockpiling assessed to produce the best stand alone economics.
Under the study, ore tonnes delivered to the processing plant are 499kt, the diluted head grade is 5.37 g/t gold, waste tonnes 13,257kt. The study assumed the same mining costs of US$2.57 per tonne for both ore and waste mining and processing costs of US$27.30 per tonne. The resultant potential cashflows being considered highly attractive by Condor.
It should be noted that these mining scenarios are part of ongoing work being done by Condor to optimize the Project which has not yet been finalized and so do not replace the 2019 MRE or the technical report entitled “Technical Report on the La India Gold Project, Nicaragua, December 2014” dated 13 November 2017 with an effective date of 21 December 2014 (the “Technical Report”), both of which remain current.
The tonnages, grades and contained gold estimates included in this are based on the mining of the existing, and previously reported Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources which have been factored to include mining losses and dilution.
Figure 1. Image showing the location of the Mestiza satellite open pits in relation to the planned La India Gold Mine infrastructure. Open pit mineral resources shown in blue.
