TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX-V-listed Cancana Resources on Monday announced that it had started commercial mining at its Valdirao manganese mine in Espigao, Brazil.

The company said it was near completing developing infrastructure at its flagship project, located in the state of Rondonia, which allowed it to embark on its trial mining campaign.

The junior’s mining plan would see it start mining and excavation operations at the top of the ridge, or the highest point within the active area of mining, and then create benches on the slope in which further mining activity would be undertaken.

Cancana would start mining by removing large-sized cobbles or boulders and stockpiling the ore, and the company would use this opportunity to further research and review the manganese vein structures and occurrences. These vein structures would be documented and reviewed for further consideration, which would enable Cancana to develop a comprehensive mining plan across multiple properties with increased size.

The company would screen the manganese in stages, initially focusing its efforts on dry screening the manganese ore to separate larger cobbles and boulder-sized ore. Thereafter, mechanised screening would be required to sort and size the smaller ore.

Cancana expected the initial dry screening and stockpiling to continue for about two months at which time it would review the results of the activity and consider the next stages of mine development, geotechnical and geological review, as well as commercial choices.

“Having personally overseen the commencement of the development of the infrastructure and mine site preparatory work, as well as now reviewing the commencement of mining and excavation operations, the company has transformed from a purely exploration company to an active mining company.

“We are very excited to see Cancana take this step, having watched the first excavation cuts take place and seeing some of the first cobbles being stockpiled was exciting for all those on site. This mining and excavation process will be established in a measured manner to enable Cancana to learn from these activities. This process will help enable the development of our other properties in the area,” Cancana president and CEO Andrew Male said.

The Valdirao mine would target initial production of 18 000 t to 20 000 t in 2013 and ramp up to 100 000 t in 2014.

The Valdirao deposit currently has a National Instrument 43-101-compliant inferred resource of 35 000 t of manganese with an average grade of 54%.