Calibre gold reserves up 200% in Nicaragua
Calibre Mining Corp. [CXB-TSXV, CXBMF-OTC] said Monday it has increased mineral reserves at its El Limon and La Libertad gold mining complexes by over 200% to 864,000 ounces.
The company said the increase supports a strong foundation for a multi-year “hub and spoke” production and growth strategy.
“With the largest mineral reserve base in the last 10 years, and the highest reserve grade [4.49 g/t gold] on record, we have increased confidence in our ability to generate strong cash flow providing a platform to fund organic growth,” the company said in a press release.
Calibre shares were virtually unchanged on the news, easing $0.01 or 0.65% to $1.52 on volume of 558,170. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $2.80 and 59 cents.
In October, 2019, Calibre completed the acquisition of B2Gold Corp.’s [BTO-TSX, BTG-NYSE] interest in the El Limon and La Libertad gold mines, the Pavon gold project and additional mineral concessions in Nicaragua for US$100 million.
Prior to the closure of that deal, Calibre had a 100% interest in over 413 square kilometres of mineral concessions in the Mining Triangle of Northeast Nicaragua, including the Primavera Gold-Copper project and Santa Maria Gold Project.
Additionally, the company has optioned to Iamgold Corp [IMG-TSX, IAG-NYSE] (176 square kilometres) and Centerra Gold Inc. [CG-TSX, CAGDF-OTC] (353 square kilometres) concessions covering an aggregate area of 429 square kilometres and is a party to a joint venture on the 33.6 square kilometre Rosita D. gold-copper-silver project with Rosita Mining Corp.
Major shareholders in Calibre include B2Gold, with 30%, mining financier Pierre Lassonde, and management.
“These assets [the El Limon and La Libertad gold mining complexes] have produced over 5.0 million ounces and yet during 2020 we discovered two new zones at Limon demonstrating the continued upside discovery potential from this long-lived and prolific epithermal gold district,” said Calibre President and CEO Darren Hall.
Standing at 864,000 ounces, mineral reserves have increased by 202% since the end of 2019 and after depletion in 2020.
Following new discoveries at the Atravesada and Panteon areas in 2020, the company has launched a 60,000-metre exploration and resource growth program at Limon, Libertad, Eastern Borosi and Pavon.
Calibre controls 100% of the Eastern Borosi gold-silver property (EBP) which is located in northeastern Nicaragua, approximately 400 kilometres by road from the company’s Libertad Complex.
The EBP concession block encompasses a past-producing district-scale system of near-surface epithermal gold-silver veins that host inferred resources of 4.4 million tonnes averaging 4.9 g/t gold and 80 g/t silver, containing 700,500 ounces of gold and 11.4 million ounces of silver.
The “hub-and-spoke” operating philosophy refers to the fact that the company can take advantage of reliable infrastructure, favourable transportation costs, and multiple high-grade mill feed sources that can be processed at either Limon or Libertad, which have a combined 2.7 million tonnes of annual mill throughput capacity.