Mining Intelligence and News
Cuba

La Demajagua Project

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StagePermitting
Commodities
  • Gold
  • Silver
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotThe proposed La Demajagua open pit mine on the Isle of Youth in southwest Cuba is at an advanced pre- development stage.

Unfortunately, the DFS was delayed for nearly 6 months while waiting on the antimony assays, but it is now nearing completion, and is based on a mining rate of 815,000 tpa of ore producing two concentrate products for 9 years – a gold-arsenopyrite concentrate, and a gold-antimony-silver concentrate.

Applications for all necessary permitting for the mine, including the Environmental Licence, were substantially completed in Q2 2023.

The potential exists to extend the project through underground operations.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Antilles Gold Ltd. 49 % Indirect
GeoMinera SA. 51 % Indirect
Antilles Gold Inc (“AGI”), a Cayman Islands registered subsidiary of Antilles Gold Limited, formalised a Joint Venture Agreement (“JVA”) in August 2020 with Gold Caribbean Mining SA (“GCM”), a subsidiary of the Cuban Government’s mining company, GeoMinera SA (“GMSA”), to incorporate Minera La Victoria SA (“MLV”).

AGI has a 49% shareholding in MLV, and effectively manages the joint venture.

Deposit type

  • Epithermal

Summary:

La Demajagua has the characteristics of a low sulphidation epithermal gold deposit. The geology of the deposit area is dominated by schistose units (quartz-graphite schists, quartz-sericite schists, and quartzites, rich in gold-bearing arsenopyrite, typically metamorphosed to greenschist facies.

The lithologies alternate between packages of graphite rich and relatively graphite poor, with package thickness of 20-200m, though increased graphite content occurs in almost all cases of fault brecciation, and so in turn mineralisation is almost always found with areas of elevated graphite content.

Alteration indicates low temperature formation and occurs as rare bleaching of rocks (only occurring in the vicinity of quartz veins over tens of cm in thickness), pervasive sericitisation,
graphitisation, and silicification either as a saturation of the entire rock mass with silica or by the formation of a network of quartz veinlets.

Vein quartz is grey, white-grey or clear and is finely crystalline. Evidence of several episodes of remobilisation can be found in the quartz, and finely disseminated sulphides occur in all areas of silicification and partly outside. Hydrothermal flow is assumed to have been aided by hydraulic pumping from fault movement, with the average sulphide content in the order of 4-6% and increasing up to 15% in enriched areas.

The gold is primarily held within arsenopyrite and associated with boulangerite. Ore texture is disseminated, laminated, massive, brecciated or forms as a sulphide cement, while its structure is cataclastic, hypidomorphic, grainy or allotriomorphic.

The mineralisation strikes approximately 45 degrees and dips ~70 degrees towards the northwest. The main zone of identified mineralisation extends for ~2.2km along strike and extends from surface to ~400m down dip, though the thickness varies from 3-35m. The mineralisation within this zone is veiny, discontinuous and high grade, with lower grade disseminated mineralisation evident in the surrounding brecciated region.

In addition to the main mineralised zone, additional hanging wall and footwall zones have been modelled over a portion of the mineralised one, although represent relatively minor additional contributions to the overall mineralisation.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Production

CommodityProductUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Gold Concentrate kt 70382
Gold Metal in concentrate koz 85
Silver Metal in concentrate oz 1,152,000
Gold Equivalent Metal in concentrate oz 100,600

Operational metrics

Metrics
Annual processing rate  ....  Subscribe
Waste tonnes, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Ore tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Total tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2022 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
C1 cash costs Gold Equivalent USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Silver USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Gold USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2022 study / presentation.

Operating Costs

Currency2022
OP mining costs ($/t milled) USD 2.25 *  
Processing costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
G&A ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
Total operating costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2022 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Pre-Production capital costs $M USD  ......  Subscribe
OP OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Processing OpEx $M USD 105.9
Transportation (haulage) costs $M USD 52.8
Total OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Total Taxes $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Royalty payments $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Net revenue (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Net Operating Income (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Net Income (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jan 12, 2024

Aerial view:

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