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El Chanate mine, Mexico

18th March 2016

By: Sheila Barradas

Creamer Media Research Coordinator & Senior Deputy Editor

  

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Name: El Chanate mine.

Location: El Chanate is located in northern Mexico, in the north-west of Sonora.

Controlling Company: Alamos Gold.

Brief History: Historical workings suggest that gold mining has been undertaken in the El Chanate area since the early nineteenth century. The current openpit mine has now been developed below the level of those historical small-scale mine workings.

Brief Description: The El Chanate mine is a conventional openpit, heap-leach operation, encompassing 22 mineral concessions on 4 618 ha.
Products: Gold.

Geology/Mineralisation: El Chanate’s main structural feature is the Chanate fault zone, a 7-km-long, north-west-striking, variably south-west-dipping structure. The area is underlain by deformed sedimentary rocks of the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Bisbee Group and the Late Cretaceous Chanate Group, which locally are overlain by andesites of the Cretaceous El Charro volcanic complex.
The sedimentary strata are locally intruded by andesitic sills and dikes, a microporphyritic latite and a diorite stock. These strata comprise mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, conglomerate, shale and limestone.
Sandstone, conglomerate and lesser mudstone above the Chanate fault are of the Middle Cretaceous Chanate Group. Below the fault, siltstone and sandstone lenses are assigned to the Arroyo Sasabe Formation of the Lower Cretaceous Bisbee Group.
Alteration and mineralisation associated with the Chanate fault zone are exposed across a north-west-strike length of more than 3.5 km. The rock units in this zone are altered to varying degrees by sericite, pyrite, ankerite and quartz veining.
In surface outcrops, the mineralised zone is distinguished by its bleached appearance relative to unmineralised rock. Subparallel sheeted zones of quartz veinlets form thick, mineralised lenses, within a larger area of subeconomic, but anomalous, gold concentrations.

Reserves: Proven and probable reserves as at December 31, 2014, were estimated at 27.21-million tonnes, grading 0.74 g/t of gold.

Resources: Measured and indicated resources as at December 31, 2014, were estimated at 2.76-million tonnes, grading 0.77 g/t of gold. Inferred resources are predicted to be 184 000 t, grading 0.38 g/t of gold.

Mining Method: Conventional openpit.
Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Openpit mining methods are used at El Chanate. Ore is trucked from the openpit to the three-stage crushing circuit, after which crushed ore and lower- grade run-of-mine ore are stacked on the heap-leach pad where it is irrigated with an alkaline cyanide-bearing solution. This is used to extract or dissolve the gold and silver contained in the ore. The resulting pregnant solution is further processed in an absorption/desorption and refining plant, followed by electrowinning and refining. The processing is a closed-circuit, zero-discharge operation, where solution is continuously reused.
Prospects: El Chanate produced 18 210 oz of gold in the fourth quarter of 2015, down from 21 932 oz in the third quarter, though up from 15 638 oz in the fourth quarter of 2014. This concluded a record year at El Chanate with production of 79 312 oz of gold exceeding guidance of 65 000 oz to 75 000 oz. The operation generated positive free cash flow in 2015 amid a challenging gold price environment, reflecting disciplined cost control. In 2016, Alamos expects El Chanate to produce between 60 000 oz and 70 000 oz of gold.


Contact Person: VP of investor relations Scott K Parsons.

Contact Details:
Alamos Gold,
tel +1 416 368 9932 x 5439,
fax +1 416 368 2934,
email sparsons@alamosgold.com, and
website http://www.alamosgold.com.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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