Patagonia Gold receives preliminary Environmental Permit for Gold Production at Lomada
Patagonia Gold Corp. [PGDC-TSXV] announced that it has received a preliminary Environmental Permit for mining and leaching operations at its Lomada de Leiva mine in the western part of Santa Cruz province, Argentina. Patagonia applied for the Permit in August 2020 and the definitive Environmental Permit is expected to be received within the next 30 days.
The Lomada gold deposit is a classic, low-sulfidation epithermal mineral system hosted in an NNE-striking, steeply ESE-dipping structure (the Main Breccia) typical of other epithermal precious metal deposits of the Deseado Massif in Santa Cruz.
Lomada commenced commercial gold production in 2013 via heap leaching of surface-mined material. A total of 1,914,400 tonnes of mined material, grading 1.97 g/t gold, has been placed on the fully lined heap leach facility.
Approximately 121,100 ounces of gold have been mined and 98,100 ounces recovered by leaching from Lomada since inception. During this period, mining occurred from a portion of the Main Breccia spanning more than 150 metres vertically, 20 metres wide, and 600 metres on strike.
During peak production, Lomada achieved approximately 3,900 recovered gold ounces per month. The company continues to recover approximately 300 gold ounces a month from the pregnant leach solution at the Lomada processing facility.
The mineralization that is targeted for new mining and processing occurs on the same mineralized structure that hosted all of Lomada’s past production.
Christopher van Tienhoven, CEO, states; “We are excited with the opportunity of resuming operations at Lomada de Leiva. We continue to evaluate our portfolio of gold/silver projects and properties in Argentina to strategically increase production while maintaining exploration activities. With ownership of processing facilities in Argentina and a recovering mining sector in the country supported by the provincial and federal mining authorities, we are well-positioned to add stakeholder value.”
The Company has not updated its initial JORC-compliant mineral resource and reserve estimate for Lomada, as prepared by Chlumsky, Ambrust and Meyer in 2007. Though the recommencement of mining and gold recovery is expected to come from an extension of the mineralized structured modeled by CAM, the company is not treating the historic estimates as current.
Patagonia Gold is primarily focused on the Calcatreu project in Rio Negro and the development of the Cap-Oeste underground project. Patagonia, indirectly through its subsidiaries or under option agreements, has mineral rights to over 360 properties in several provinces of Argentina and Chile and is one of the largest landholders in Santa Cruz province.