JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Condor Gold has completed an environmental-impact assessment (EIA) and submitted an application for an environmental permit to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in Nicaragua for the construction and operation of an openpit mine, a carbon-in-leach processing plant and associated infrastructure at its La India project.
The project would include the development of a processing plant with an initial capacity of 2 200 t/d, which could be increased to 2 800 t/d.
A prefeasibility study has shown that 76 000 oz/y of gold would be mined during the first five years of production, with the processing plant operating at 2 200 t/d.
Output would increase to 101 000 oz/y of gold once inferred material was included, using a 2 800 t/d processing plant.
The EIA also proposed processing 10 000 oz/y of additional gold from artisanal miners through the main processing plant.
"Two feeder pits and underground production will be permitted at a later stage and could increase annual gold production by over 50%. Both the Ministry of Energy and Mines and Pro-Nicaragua, the inward investment agency, had been steadfast in their support of reopening Mina La India, which closed in 1956.
“It will be a major boost to the local and national economy and large foreign direct investment from the UK. Nicaragua has three large commercial mines, which produced a combined 250 000 oz of gold in 2014. Gold is Nicaragua's third-largest export,” CEO Mark Child commented.