Torex Gold eyes expansion at Media Luna
Torex Gold Resources Inc. [TXG-TSX, OTC-TORXF] has released results from 2022 drilling at its Media Luna project in Mexico.
Torex is an intermediate gold producer, engaged in development and exploration at its 100%-owned Morelos Gold Property, which covers an area of 29,000 hectares in the Guerrero Gold Belt, about 180 kilometres southwest of Mexico City.
Within the Morelos Gold Property, the company’s principal assets are the El Limon Guajes (ELG) Mining Complex, which consists of the El Limon, Guajes and El Limon Sur open pits (the ELG Open Pits), The El Limon Guajes underground mine, including zones referred to a Sub-Sill and El Limon Deep (ELD) and the processing plant and related infrastructure.
These operations reached in the commercial production stage in April 1, 2016.
At full production, the mine ranks amongst the largest and lowest cost gold operations in the world.
The Media Luna deposit is located on the same concession as The Guajes, El Limon and Sub-Sill deposits. Media Luna is hosted in a magnetic anomaly south of the Balsas River that was discovered in March 2012.
Torex has said it planning US$848 million in capital expenditures to bring the Media Luna project into commercial production. That includes US$85 million worth of underground development during the pre-commercial production period from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2024.
The company said drilling last year at Media Luna was focused on upgrading indicated resources to the measured category and targeting spatial gaps in prior drilling to expand inferred mineral resources
“Infill drilling within three higher grade zones of the Media Luna deposit returned assay results with similarly impressive grades and widths as prior drilling,’’ the company said. “Based the additional drilling, we expect to convert a high percentage of indicated resources within these areas to the measured category when year-end mineral reserve and resource estimates are released later this month.’’
Drilling targeting these higher-grade zones returned some notable grades over favourable core lengths (not true widths), including 46.0 g/t gold equivalent (AuEq) over 28.4 metres, 17.1 g/t AuEq over 58.1 metres, 21.4 g/t AuEq over 26.4 metres, 8.6 g/t AuEq over 34.7 metres and 9.6 g/t over 26.1 metres.
“Infill drilling targeting spatial gaps to ensure the drill density required to classify mineralization as inferred resources was also successful, with several holes returning intersects with favourable lengths including 8.0 AuEq over 25.4 metres, 3.8 g/t AuEq over 48 metres, 3.0 f/t over 26.8 metres and 2.6 g/t over 18.9 metres.
During 2022, approximately 27,400 metres of drilling was completed at Media Luna. Of that amount 100% of the assays had been received by the end of January, 2023.
The latest drilling results were released after the close of trading on March 8, 2023, when Torex shares closed at $17.22. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $19.15 and $8.07.