Despite the political protests in Nicaragua, in which more than 300 people have died since mid-April, British firm Condor Gold has reiterated its commitment to building and operating a $120-million gold mine, announcing on Monday that it had completed a three-year permitting process.

The Aim- and TSX-V-listed company has been granted an environmental permit for the La India mine and processing plant, which will have the capacity to process up to 2 800 t/d, producing about 80 000 oz/y.

Following the receipt of the permit, Condor will now progress the redesigned mine site infrastructure for the La India openpit to a bankable level of feasibility (BFS) study, chairperson and CEO Mark Child reported on Monday.

Subject to financing, completion of a BFS and the completion of final engineering designs, construction is expected to start in 18 months of the grant of the environmental permit and is expected to take 18 to 24 months.

“The receipt of the environmental permit is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of Condor Gold’s team on the ground, they are 100% Nicaraguan nationals; I am proud of their achievements. It also marks the culmination of 11 years of detailed scientific geological work and technical mining studies at La India Project, including three years of the permitting process,” said Child.

Condor employs about 70 employees in Nicaragua and the firm said that it remained focused on supporting its staff, despite the political situation in the Central American nation.

Condor also stated that it held constructive meetings in recent months with key Ministries, which had resulted in the approval of the technical studies, a successful public consultation and the grant of the environmental permit.

At the mid-July public consultation, nearly 500 people attended and Condor said overwhelming support was voiced for a new mine. La India is located in an old mining area, adjacent to a former mining community.

The construction and operation of a new gold mine will create 1 000 jobs and the company pointed out that for every job in the mine there are an additional three to five times more indirect jobs providing services to the mine.