Overview
| Stage | Production |
| Mine Type | Open Pit & Underground |
| Commodities |
|
| Mining Method |
- Longitudinal open stoping
- Truck & Shovel / Loader
- Sub-level stoping
- Avoca
- Backfill
|
| Production Start | ...  |
| Mine Life | 2029 |
El Limón operates four mines and has all required infrastructure necessary for a mining complex including:
• Three underground mines: Santa Pancha 1, Panteón, and Veta Nueva with planned expansion to mine the Atravesada UG mine.
• Two surface mines: Limón Central and Tigra, with planned expansions to mine Pozo Bono and Limón Norte in the near future.
• A conventional processing plant with agitated cyanide leaching and carbon adsorption. |
Source:
p. 4,5
The El Limon Complex is held 100% by Calibre, through its Triton Minera S.A. subsidiary.
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- Epithermal
- Vein / narrow vein
Summary:
According to Pearson and Speirs (2009), El Limón’s vein system is classified as a low sulphidation
epithermal system.
Gold mineralization in the Limón district is structurally controlled and forms veins that occupy pre-existing fault structures and extensional openings formed during mineralization. The veins are quartz dominant with lesser and variable quantities of calcite, and minor adularia. Pyrite is the predominant sulphide, but with a content of less than one percent. Trace amounts of chalcopyrite, sphalerite, arsenopyrite, altaite, gold tellurides, and native gold are also reported to occur. Gold is present in both banded quartz and silicified breccias that form the veins. Gold is very fine grained within the quartz vein and is relatively uniformly distributed throughout the higher grade parts of the veins. Only once has visible gold been reported on the Project concession.
The productive vein systems are approximately one to two kilometres long, with vein widths from less than one metre up to 25 m. Individual mineralized shoots within the veins range from 60 m to 450 m long horizontally, and from 40 m to 290 m vertically. Strike orientations vary from north-northwest through northeast to east-west, and dips are from 40° to nearly vertical. All economic gold mineralization discovered and mined to date lies within 400 m of surface. The productive and prospective elevations within the vein systems vary across the district. Post-mineral faults l ........
Mining Methods
- Longitudinal open stoping
- Truck & Shovel / Loader
- Sub-level stoping
- Avoca
- Backfill
Summary:
The active El Limón mining units include Santa Pancha 1 UG, Panteón UG, Veta Nueva UG, and the Limón Central OP.
El Limón’s underground mines are trackless mechanized operations that have ramp access. The deposits being mined consist of narrow steeply dipping veins, and ore is mined with longitudinal sublevel stoping type mining methods. Santa Pancha 1 and Veta Nueva are producing mines, while Panteón is still at the development stage. Santa Pancha 1 is an old mine redeveloped as a trackless operation and has been in production since 2015. Panteón is a former producing mine that was idle for almost two decades until Calibre initiated a project to mine several of its remaining zones. Veta Nueva is a new mine that began producing ore in 2019.
The Limón Central OP is a conventional open pit mine with six metre bench heights, using drilling and blasting for rock breakage, and excavators and trucks for materials handling.
Underground Mining
El Limón has two underground mines, Santa Pancha 1 and Veta Nueva, that are in production and a third, Panteón, that is presently under development. All the underground mines are mechanized and use sublevel-stoping type mining methods.
Santa Pancha 1
The mining method applied at Santa Pancha 1 is uphole sublevel retreat stoping with no backfill. It involves dividing the vein into sublevels and mining the horizons of ore between veins as lifts in a topdown sequence. Longholes are drilled as u ........
Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
- subscription is required.
Production:
On October 15, 2019, Calibre acquired B2Gold’s interest in the El Limon and La Libertad gold mines, the Pavon gold project and additional mineral concessions in Nicaragua (collectively, the “Nicaragua Assets”).
| Commodity | Units | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
|
Gold
|
oz
| ...... | ...... | ...... | ...... | 49,629 | 42,776 | 45,483 |
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré.
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Operational Metrics:
| Metrics | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
|
Daily milling rate
| ...... | ...... | | | | |
|
Daily milling capacity
| ...... | ...... | | | | |
|
Annual milling capacity
| ...... | ...... | 500,000 t | 500,000 t | | |
|
Ore tonnes mined
| ...... | ...... | 644,492 t | | | |
|
Tonnes milled
| ...... | ...... | 428,081 t | 482,053 t | 447,961 t | 458,419 t |
|
Waste OP
| ...... | ...... | 11,001,548 t | | | |
|
Total tonnes mined
| ...... | ...... | 11,646,040 t | | | |
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Reserves at December 31, 2022:
Open pit (OP) Mineral Reserves are estimated at the following cut-off grades:
a. 1.05 g/t Au for Limón Central OP.
b. 1.11 g/t Au for Limón Norte OP.
c. 1.07 g/t Au for Pozo Bono/Limón Sur OP.
d. 1.10 g/t Au for Tigra OP.
Underground (UG) Mineral Reserves are estimated at the following fully costed and incremental cut-off grades, respectively:
a. 2.90 g/t Au and 2.30 g/t Au for Panteón UG.
b. 3.17 g/t Au and 2.74 g/t Au for Panteón Norte – Shaft 9 UG.
c. 3.01 g/t Au and 2.44 g/t Au for Santa Pancha 1 UG.
d. 2.13 g/t Au and 1.91 g/t Au for Veta Nueva UG.
e. 2.30 g/t Au and 1.92 g/t Au for Atravesada UG.
Open pit Mineral Resources are estimated at cut-off grades of 1.00 g/t Au. Underground Mineral Resources are estimated at cut-off grades ranging from 2.00 g/t Au to 2.82 g/t Au.
| Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
|
Probable
|
3,714 kt
|
Gold
|
5.5 g/t
|
657 koz
|
|
Probable
|
3,714 kt
|
Silver
|
5.21 g/t
|
622 koz
|
|
Indicated
|
13,313 kt
|
Gold
|
2.97 g/t
|
1,270 koz
|
|
Indicated
|
13,313 kt
|
Silver
|
2.05 g/t
|
877 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
1,597 kt
|
Gold
|
4.26 g/t
|
218 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
1,597 kt
|
Silver
|
3.27 g/t
|
167 koz
|
Source:
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Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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