Condor Gold plc said that the starter pits were “shovel ready” following final assay results for the 3,370m drill programme at La India, Nicaragua.
ECONOMICS
Operations have also discovered an “additional vein in the footwall.”
The two starter pits are planned to exploit two high grade segments of the La India open pit to 35m below surface, to provide early high-grade mill feed.
The Southern starter pit is along a 250m strike length, while the Northern starter pit is along a 300m strike and separated by 200m of what Condor previously considered a low grade zone.
The company added it was considering either extending the starter pits or joining them, by exploiting the near-surface gold mineralisation along the intervening 200m of strike length.
The infill and reverse circulation (RC)-replacement drill holes were completed between December 2020 and June 2021 with the best new drill result in drill hole LIDC464 of 6.6m true width at 10.51 g/t gold.
Chairman and chief executive Mark Child said that the drill programme had reaffirmed and the geological model which was now more robust.
“Project economics are likely to improve with a) confirmation of a broad zone of mineralisation between the starter pits which should reduce the overall strip ratio and b) the discovery of an additional vein in the footwall.”