Overview
Stage | Permitting |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
- Gold
- Copper
- Silver
- Molybdenum
|
Mining Method |
|
Mine Life | 26 years (as of Jan 1, 2023) |
Cangrejos Gold-Copper deposit is a large-scale robust project. It is unique in that the waste haulage distances begin to slowly reduce over much of the mine life from Year 15 until just a few years before completion of mine life. This is because the WRSF rises in elevation to meet the exit elevation from the pit.
The Project consists of two adjacent open pit mines referred to as Cangrejos (eastern pit) and Gran Bestia (western pit).
The Project is proposed to be developed in three phases of staged increases in daily milled throughput, as follows: * 30 kt/d in Year 1 * 60 kt/d in Year 4 * 80 kt/d in Year 7 until the end of mine life. |
Source:
p. 32
The Cangrejos Project consists of six mining concessions totaling 6,374 ha. All concessions are held by Lumina through its 100% owned Ecuadorian subsidiary, Odin.
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- Metamorphic hosted
- Porphyry
- Breccia pipe / Stockwork
Summary:
The Cangrejos and Gran Bestia deposits are gold-copper, silica-saturated, alkalic porphyry-style deposits. This type of deposit is found along paleo-subduction margins.
The Cangrejos Project is largely underlain by a Miocene porphyritic dacite and a Cretaceous equigranular quartz diorite which is interpreted as being part of the El Oro metamorphic complex. Gold showings are associated with the Miocene porphyry and adjacent breccias and metamorphic rocks.
Mineralization
Gold-copper mineralization is associated with sulphides that occur as open-space breccia fill or as disseminations in former mafic phenocrysts. Total sulphide content is generally less than 5% and consists of chalcopyrite and pyrite with minor bornite, molybdenite and pyrrhotite. In drillhole C17-65, native copper is found on fracture surfaces at depths ranging from 142 m to 186 m. This is not very common and is probably due to strong oxidation along a fracture zone.
The highest gold grades occur in calcic-sodic altered breccias at contacts between the PQD and the metamorphic complex. The best gold grades occur in breccias where the dominant clast type is EQD. The EQD is more mafic in composition, and gold is preferentially deposited in reducing (mafic) environments.
Cangrejos Zone
Current understanding of the surface geology of the Cangrejos Zone is limited because of a lack of outcrop exposures. Eastnortheasterly trending porphyritic rocks (PQD, iPQD, ........
Summary:
The Cangrejos Project consists of two adjacent open pit mines referred to as Cangrejos (eastern pit) and Gran Bestia (western pit). Both pits will be mined with conventional hard rock open pit mining methods.
The mine delivers 30 kt/d (10.95 Mt/a) of mineralized mill feed to the plant from mid-Year 1 through Year 3. Production ramps up in Year 4 so that the mine delivers 60 kt/d (21.90 Mt/a) of mineralized mill feed in from Years 5 to 6. Production ramps up a third time in Year 7 so that the mine delivers 80 kt/d (29.20 Mt/a) of mineralized mill feed from Year 8 until the end of mine life. Multiple mill feed ramp-up schedules were evaluated, but the 30-60-80 schedule resulted in the best economics and minimized the initial capital requirements.
The mine delivers 30 kt/d of ore to the plant from mid-Year 1 through Year 3. Production ramps up in Year 4 so that the mine delivers 60 kt/d of ore from Years 5 to 6. Production ramps up a third time in Year 7, so that the mine delivers 80 kt/d of ore from Year 8 to the end of mine life (25 ½ years). Multiple mill feed ramp-up schedules were evaluated, but the 30-60-80 schedule resulted in the best balance of strong economic value and minimized initial capital requirements.
Mine Production Schedule
The following mining equipment is planned to be deployed during the initial site development: dozers, articulated haul truck, excavators, graders, FEL’s, compactor and pioneering drill.
Th ........
Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Source:
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Reserves at March 30, 2023:
The mineral reserves in this estimate are based on declining NSR cut-off grade between $23.00/t milled to $7.76/milled.
The base case cut-off grade is 0.25 g/t gold equivalent (AuEq).
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Probable
|
659 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.55 g/t
|
11.56 M oz
|
Probable
|
659 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.1 %
|
1,420 M lbs
|
Probable
|
659 Mt
|
Silver
|
0.68 g/t
|
14.38 M oz
|
Indicated
|
1,080 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.48 g/t
|
16.8 M oz
|
Indicated
|
1,080 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.09 %
|
2,166 M lbs
|
Indicated
|
1,080 Mt
|
Silver
|
0.7 g/t
|
24.3 M oz
|
Indicated
|
1,080 Mt
|
Molybdenum
|
17.8 ppm
|
42.4 M lbs
|
Indicated
|
1,080 Mt
|
Gold Equivalent
|
0.62 g/t
|
|
Inferred
|
296.3 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.39 g/t
|
3.7 M oz
|
Inferred
|
296.3 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.07 %
|
483 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
296.3 Mt
|
Silver
|
0.7 g/t
|
7 M oz
|
Inferred
|
296.3 Mt
|
Molybdenum
|
11.7 ppm
|
7.6 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
296.3 Mt
|
Gold Equivalent
|
0.5 g/t
|
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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