Solid new copper and gold intersections at Antilles Gold’s El Pilar project in Cuba will form part of a looming maiden mineral resource estimate as the company forges towards its proposed Nueva Sabana mine.
Management today revealed headline results of 3m at an eye-catching 37.54 grams per tonne gold from 20m and 25m at 3.35 per cent copper from 53m, including 9m at 7.86 per cent. It says the “outstanding” grades in the gold domain extend from surface to a depth of between 40m and 50m, while “robust” grades in the underlying copper domain continue for a further 50m to 70m.
Antilles and joint venture (JV) partner Geominera SA, the Cuban Government’s mining company, is planning to establish a resource estimate for the project in January next year. The JV says it has been encouraged by metallurgical testing for both gold and copper, with simple flotation producing 85 per cent recoveries for the gold.
It expects low-cost mine construction of about US$20 million (AU$31.72 million) to start in about May next year and run for 10 months. Upon commissioning, run-of-mine ore is expected to range between 500,000 and 600,000 tonnes per annum and negotiations for forward gold sales have already begun.
The Nueva Sabana mine is expected to have low operating costs as well as low development costs due to its location, terrain, very low waste to ore ratio, and simple metallurgy. The Company has already contributed its equity for a 50% interest in the Nueva Sabana mine, and financial projections indicate very high returns, and a significant NPV for the project which will be confirmed soon after receipt of the MRE and mine plan early next year. Even though only a small project, the commencement of a reasonable cash flow around Q2 2025 would be most welcome. Antilles Gold executive chairman Brian Johnson
The company has a 7000m drilling program near completion and has targeted the upper high-sulphidation epithermal and underlying porphyry environment. Drilling has been concentrated in the upper central 300m-by-200m vuggy silica-alunite area that sits within an oxide zone with a diameter of more than 600m.
Metallurgical testwork has achieved the gold recoveries of 85 per cent from a simple rougher flotation circuit with a concentrate of 53.1g/t gold produced from an ore sample grading 2.11g/t. Copper metallurgy testwork is ongoing, but Antilles says indications are that the copper concentrate will exceed 25 per cent copper.
The low capital costs anticipated for the project owe much to the developed infrastructure already being in place, including high-tension power, rail and highway links to the container port, a water supply and access to skilled labour. The ability to dry-hire mining equipment, in contrast to expensive up-front purchasing, will also lower initial capital expenditure and decrease the project payback period.
In all, Antilles seems well placed in the Caribbean to move quickly to mine construction following its successful ore-defining diamond drill program.
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