LONDON - Condor Gold (AIM: CNR) (TSX: COG) is pleased to announce an update on the progress the Company is making with the permitting process at La India Project, Nicaragua.
Highlights
Extension granted until 27 July 2021 to complete the conditions of the key environmental permit to develop and extract ore from La India open pit
Mine schedule and waste dump schedule completed for La India open pit, which hosts economic mineral reserve of 6.9Mt at 3.1g/t gold for 675,000 oz gold
Water and sewage management studies for the processing plant offices and accommodation have been completed
A forestry inventory and reforestation plan of 10 new trees for every tree cut down has been completed
Tailings Storage Facility final engineering designs and the majority of Surface Water Management System for the mine have been awarded to Tierra Group Inc, Denver, USA, and are in progress.
Offers made to buy the surface rights from all landowners within the mine site infrastructure, 50% have accepted.
Designs for fuel station for back up power almost completed. National grid electricity pylons are located 700 meters from the processing plant. A new electricity sub-station is being built 12 km from the processing plant. Studies to connect the processing plant to grid power are underway.
Mark Child, Chairman and CEO Commented: 'The objective is to de-risk La India Project and complete all studies ahead of a construction decision, thereby making the Project 'shovel ready'. Several studies have already been completed: mine schedule, waste dump schedule, water and sewage management study for the offices and accommodation for the processing plant, the forestry inventory and reforestation plan. Condor is fully engineering the Tailings Storage Facility and Surface Water Management System required for the mine, both studies are in progress. Offers have been made to buy the surface rights from all landowners within the mine site infrastructure, 50% have accepted. Designs for a fuel station for backup power are almost completed and studies to connect the processing plant to the electricity grid are underway.'
Completing Studies For the Permitted La India Open Pit
As announced on 6 August 2018, Condor received an Environmental Permit to construct and operate a new mine at its La India Project (the 'Permit'). La India open pit hosts an economic mineral reserve of 6.9Mt at 3.1g/t gold for 675,000 oz gold and represents less than a third of the global mineral resource estimate at La India Project. The Permit contained certain conditions to be satisfied to allow construction to commence within 18 months of the grant. On 22 January 2020, Condor received a letter from MARENA detailing an extension, as provided for under the terms of the Permit, to complete the conditions of the Permit by 27 July 2021.
Considerable progress has been made completing the conditions of the Permit. The mine schedule, waste dump schedule, water and sewage management studies for the processing plant offices and accommodation have been completed. Tierra Group Inc in Denver, USA are fully engineering the Tailing Storage Facility and completing designs for the surface water management system required for the operation of the mine. Condor has doubled the land acquisition team; four in-house lawyers and several members of the social team are working on acquiring the land required for the mine site infrastructure. Offers have been made to all landowners, over 50% have accepted. Designs for the fuel service station to support the processing plant are almost finalised. The national electricity company has confirmed that the Government is building a new electricity sub-station 12km from the processing plant; designs for supplying grid power via the new sub-station are underway. An updated forestry inventory has been completed. The compensation plan under the local law is to replace every tree removed with 10 new trees - this study has also been completed. In the last 12 months, Condor initiated a tree nursery which currently has approximately 6,200 trees.
Contact:
Mark Child
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7493 2784
About Condor Gold plc
Condor Gold plc was admitted to AIM in May 2006 and dual listed on the TSX in January 2018. The Company is a gold exploration and development company with a focus on Nicaragua.
In August 2018, the Company announced that the Ministry of the Environment in Nicaragua had granted the Company the Environmental Permit ('EP') for the development, construction and operation of a processing plant with capacity to process up to 2,800 tonnes per day at its wholly-owned La India gold project ('La India Project'). The EP is considered to be the master permit for mining operations in Nicaragua. Condor Gold published a PFS on La India Project in December 2014, as summarised in the Technical Report (as defined below). The PFS details an open pit gold Mineral Reserve in the Probable category of 6.9 Mt at 3.0 g/t gold for 675,000 oz gold, producing 80,000 oz gold per annum for seven years. La India Project contains a Mineral Resource of 9,850Kt at 3.6 g/t gold for 1,140Koz gold in the Indicated category and 8,479Kt at 4.3g/t gold for 1,179Koz gold in the Inferred category. The Indicated Mineral Resource is inclusive of the Mineral Reserve.
CONDOR GOLD PLC 