Gold Leach Pad and Plant Nears Commissioning
Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 21, 2021) - Minera Alamos Inc. (TSXV: MAI) (the "Company" or "Minera Alamos") is pleased to provide an update on the start-up of mining operations at the Santana gold mine, Sonora, Mexico.
All construction has now been completed with the full leach pad now lined and available for stacking (see photo 1). First loading of mined material from the Nicho Norte pit commenced earlier this month (see photo 4) in preparation for the commissioning of leach operations around the end of the June.
Photo 1 - Santana Heap Leach Pad complete with commencement of stacking earlier this month
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"Since the completion of the first pit blast in May and the commencement of mining operations, we have continued in parallel the completion of final construction activities for the full leach pad area and the gold recovery plant. As material continues to be loaded to the pad we are in the final phase of preparations for the start of leaching activities which will provide us the opportunity to thoroughly test and commission the gold recovery plant ahead of first production next month," stated Darren Koningen, CEO. "The Company remains well financed with a strong treasury that is more than sufficient to cover working capital requirements."
Current planning is focused on the optimization of key parameters for full scale operations at the Santana project. This includes:
- blast designs suitable for efficient fragmentation of mined material;
- crushing circuit optimization to provide throughput maximization for material from the Nicho Norte pit;
- leach pad stacking plans;
- open pit haulage optimization and construction of roads for future pit development phases; and
- leach plant testing and reagent preparation.
Initial blasting activities at the Nicho Norte pit have demonstrated the ability to achieve a high level of fragmentation allowing for a majority of mined material to bypass further crushing and be sent directly to the leach pad for gold recovery. It is currently expected that additional crushing requirements will be limited to zones of higher-grade material only. This will be handled by the mining contractor using portable crushing equipment (see photo 2).
Photo 2 - Portable crushing equipment in action opening up the Nicho Norte open pit
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Photo 3 - Gold recovery (carbon) plant completed and awaiting start of commissioning
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Photo 4 - Heap leach pad loading
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Cautionary Statement
The Company does not have a feasibility study of mineral reserves, demonstrating economic and technical viability for the Santana project, and, as a result, there may be an increased uncertainty of achieving any particular level of recovery of minerals or the cost of such recovery, including increased risks associated with developing a commercially mineable deposit. Historically, such projects have a much higher risk of economic and technical failure. Failure to commence production would have a material adverse impact on the Company's ability to generate revenue and cash flow to fund operations.
Mr. Darren Koningen, P. Eng., Minera Alamos' CEO, is the Qualified Person responsible for the technical content of this press release under National Instrument 43-101.
For Further Information Please Contact:
Minera Alamos Inc.
Doug Ramshaw, President
Tel: 604-600-4423
Email:
Website:
Victoria Vargas de Szarzynski, VP Investor Relations
Tel: 289-242-3599
Email:
About Minera Alamos Inc.
Minera Alamos is a gold development company poised to join the ranks of gold producers in 2021. The Company has a portfolio of high-quality Mexican assets, including the 100%-owned Santana open-pit, heap-leach development project in Sonora that is currently under construction, and which is expected to have its first gold production approximately mid-2021. The newly acquired 100%-owned Cerro de Oro oxide gold project in northern Zacatecas that has considerable past drilling and metallurgical work completed and could enter the permitting process rapidly. The La Fortuna open pit gold project in Durango (100%-owned) has an extremely robust and positive preliminary economic assessment (PEA) completed and the main Federal permits in hand. Minera Alamos is built around its operating team that together brought 3 mines into production in Mexico over the last 13 years.
The Company's strategy is to develop very low capex assets while expanding the projects' resources and continuing to pursue complementary strategic acquisitions.
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