Goldquest names Pereyra as new CEO
Goldquest Mining Corp. [GQC-TSXV] has announced the appointment of Luis Pereyra as the company’s new CEO. Following a transition period, he will take up the new position on or before September 1, 2022. Pereyra, who is also expected to join the board of directors, will initially be responsible for working towards securing an exploitation license for the company’s Romero gold-copper project in the Dominican Republic.
Pereyra is a citizen of the Dominican Republic, and a qualified engineer with over 25 years of experience in mining and mineral processing. He will succeed the current CEO Dave Massola, who expressed his intention to resign from the position this year, the company said in a press release. He will officially step down on August 31, 2022.
Pereyra’s previous work history includes spells at Glencore, BHP Billiton Ltd. [BHP-NYSE, BHPLF-OTCPK], Barrick Gold Corp. [ABX-TSX, GOLD-NYSE]. Most recently, he was CEO of Shandong Gold.
Goldquest is a Canadian exploration and development company with a focus on the Dominican Republic. The company has said it will work closely with government in a bid to receive the project exploitation license for the Romero gold/copper project which will allow advanced environmental, social and economic studies to investigate the viability of the project.
“We are pleased that the political climate remains positive for the Romero project and that the Minister of Energy Mines Almonte stated to GoldQuest’s CEO and Chairman that he supports the Romero project,” Massola said recently.
The Romero Project, which includes the Romero and Romero South deposits, is located in the La Escandalosa exploration concession of Goldquest’s Tireo Property, which covers 3,997 hectares. The Tireo Property (also sometimes known as the San Juan concession) is located in the Central Cordillera of the Dominican Republic near the San Juan provincial capital of San Juan de La Maguana.
The main Romero gold/copper deposit was discovered by GoldQuest in 2012. A 2016 pre-feasibility study returned an after-tax net present value of US$204 million at 5% and an IRR of 28%, plus an all-in-sustaining cost of US$595 an ounce. It is worth noting that the study done at US$1,300 an ounce for gold and US$2.50 a pound for copper.
The company has outlined a maiden probable reserve of 7.03 million tonnes, containing 840,000 ounces of gold, 980,000 ounces of silver and 136 million pounds of copper.
Total indicated resources stand at 20.3 million tonnes, grading 2.67 g/t gold, 0.61% copper, 0.30% zinc, 4.0 g/t silver or 3.48 g/t gold equivalent (AuEq), containing 1.73 million ounces of gold and 2.26 million ounces of AuEq.
The planned 2,800 tonne-per-day underground mine focuses on the high-grade gold and copper “core” of the Romero Deposit to produce a saleable copper concentrate for shipment to offshore refineries.
On June 1, 2022, Goldquest shares rose 9.1% or $0.015 to 18 cents and currently trade in a 52-week range of 36 cents and 10.5 cents.