Overview
| Stage | Preliminary Economic Assessment |
| Mine Type | Open Pit |
| Commodities |
|
| Mining Method |
|
| Mine Life | 12 years (as of Jan 1, 2014) |
The Santa Gertrudis property was the site of an historic heap leach operation that produced approximately 565,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 2.1 g/t gold from 1991 to 2000. Substantial surface infrastructure is already in place on the property including pre-stripped pits, haul roads, water sources and buildings.
The Company is currently evaluating a potential production scenario at Santa Gertrudis that utilizes a heap leach for lower-grade mineralization and a small mill facility to process higher-grade ore. The Company believes that the Santa Gertrudis project has the potential to be a similar size operation to La India. |
Source:
p. 27
In November 2017, the Agnico Eagle acquired its 100% interest in the Santa Gertrudis property.
Contractors
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Summary:
Historic production for the Santa Teresa mining district was principally from sedimentary-rockhosted gold deposits that have been characterized by some authorities as “Carlin-type” in character. As noted in Section 7.0, although there are several features similar to Carlin-type gold systems, there are also many differences.
Field mapping and rock-chip geochemical sampling by Animas personnel within the Santa Teresa mining district confirms the presence of gold mineralization along north east striking (~045°), steeply west-dipping, normal and oblique slip faults. Gold mineralization appears to occur primarily within the hanging wall portions of the fault zones and these faults are believed to be the primary “feeder” structures for the known gold mineralization. Where the northeast-trending faults intersect northwest-trending, reactivated, bedding parallel thrust faults (~345°) and deformation zones, gold mineralization tends to bleed out along these more permeable zones. Tensional, conjugate sets of north-south and east-west trending faults also control the localization of gold mineralization, but these zones generally are less well mineralized than the northeast- and northwest-trending set of faults.
Mineralization appears to occur preferentially in rocks that were both structurally prepared and had chemical properties that allowed for gold deposition. Calcareous siltstone and limestone in La Gloria, Greta, and Santiago show strong local dissolution and ........
Summary:
The Santa Gertrudis property contains numerous gold deposits, some of which were partially mined in the past. The deposits are near surface and lend themselves to conventional open pit mining methods. The entire project area is about 10 km long in both the north-south and east-west directions.
For the PEA production plan, 27 different open pits will be developed over the life of the project to support a heap leaching operation. Some heap leach feed material will also be mined from a historical heap leach pad that retains recoverable gold.
Based on preliminary pit optimizations, and the application of dilution and losses factors, potential mine production and heap leach feed tonnages were estimated for each deposit. The total quantity of material that would be sent to the leach pad is calculated to be 29.5 Mt containing 916 k oz of gold. The overall waste to potential heap leach feed ratio is 5.5:1.
Source:
Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Projected Production:
| Commodity | Units | Avg. Annual | LOM |
|
Gold
|
oz
| 56,000 | 671,300 |
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré.
Operational Metrics:
| Metrics | |
|
Stripping / waste ratio
| 5.5 * |
|
Daily ore mining rate
| 7,500 t * |
|
Annual mining capacity
| 2,700 kt of ore * |
|
Waste tonnes, LOM
| 163,187 kt * |
|
Ore tonnes mined, LOM
| 29,511 kt * |
|
Total tonnes mined, LOM
| 192,698 kt * |
|
Daily processing rate
| 7,500 t * |
|
Annual processing rate
| 2,700 kt * |
|
Mining scale, tpd
| 46,000 t |
|
Processing scale, tpd
| 7,500 t |
* According to 2014 study.
Reserves at December 31, 2022:
| Category | OreType | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
17,638 kt
|
Gold
|
0.91 g/t
|
516 koz
|
|
Indicated
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
17,638 kt
|
Silver
|
3.71 g/t
|
2,106 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
11,187 kt
|
Gold
|
1.28 g/t
|
460 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
9,079 kt
|
Gold
|
3.44 g/t
|
1,004 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
Total
|
20,265 kt
|
Gold
|
2.25 g/t
|
1,464 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (OP)
|
11,187 kt
|
Silver
|
2.07 g/t
|
745 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
In-Situ (UG)
|
9,079 kt
|
Silver
|
23.31 g/t
|
6,803 koz
|
|
Inferred
|
Total
|
20,265 kt
|
Silver
|
11.58 g/t
|
7,548 koz
|
Source:
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Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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