With investments pegged at US$165 million for 2022, Canadian gold mining company Gran Colombia Mining (GCM) will be advancing developmental works of its mines area in the Toroparu, Cuyuni/Mazaruni in preparation of its 2024 production schedule.
The mining company, which also has operations in Colombia, recently acquired the mining area from Sandspring Resources Inc, another Canadian company that was involved in exploratory activities here.
Dubbed one of the largest undeveloped gold deposits in the Americas, the new mining area is likely to be larger than Zijin Mining’s Aurora Gold Mines Project and Troy Resources’ Karouni Gold Project.
GCM holds 100 per cent control of the Upper Puruni Concession area, which contains 53,283 hectares of mineral leases located in the Cuyuni-Mazaruni region.
According to the company’s website, “The discovery of the structural control of high-grade gold mineralization at Toroparu has reaffirmed GCM’s confidence in the potential value of this project as one of our cornerstone assets.”
GCM had recently announced a discovery of a 4-kilometer strike length of high-grade structurally controlled gold mineralization. This was after a two-phase diamond drill programme comprising a total of 20,750 meters with 114 drill holes.
“Additionally, the program identified a repeated pattern of intersections of NW-SE and E-W oriented sub-vertical structures containing high-grade zones extending over mineable widths up to 100m [metres] vertically (“jewelry boxes”) that support our belief of a high-grade resource amenable to underground mining methods,” the website also stated.
Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance Dr Ashni Singh in his January budget presentation announced that US$354 million will be invested by the company to develop the site for production over the next two years.
“Beyond this year, investment in the Toroparu area will finally result in long-anticipated development of a full-fledged gold mine since an international mid-tier gold company has confirmed their interest in this project,” he told the National Assembly. In addition to the sum being invested this year, a further US$189 million will be expended in 2023.
Toroparu is currently accessed overland via the 230-km Itaballi-Puruni-Papishao Landing Road, which was rehabilitated by Gold X in 2003. It is a major transportation corridor for western Guyana, an important gold producing area.
The website explains that the project is comprised of two deposits: the Toroparu Deposit (located near the main camp) and the Sona Hill Deposit (located 5 km southeast of the Toroparu Deposit). The mine plan considered in the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) commences with open pit mining with plans to execute the mine plan outlined in the PEA in phases. It will commence initially with construction of the Phase I surface mine and the 7,000 tpd (tonnes per day) gold leach process mill. A conventional truck-shovel method is being considered for the open pit portion of the Toroparu Deposit.
Underground development is slated to commence at the beginning of the ninth year of open pit operation with a target of 3,500 tpd, ramping up to full production over an approximate two-year period. Some 5.4 million ounces of gold is projected to be recovered over 24-year life of the mine.
GCM Chief Executive Officer Lombardo Paredes, in a release, was quoted as saying that based on the “technical and financial merits demonstrated by the PEA and funded by the US$300 million Senior Notes financing they closed in August and the Wheaton stream, we are proceeding with construction of the Toroparu Project.”
“We believe the Toroparu Project has the potential to be a multi-generational gold mine which can create significant value for our shareholders, solidifying its position along with our Segovia Operations as a cornerstone asset in GCM Mining,” he added.
He explained that data gathered from their analysis when compared with Gold X Mining’s previous Mineral Resource estimate (September 2018), indicated gold resources have increased by approximately 15% to 8.4 million ounces of gold and reflect an increase in the average head grade from 0.91 g/t (grams per tonne) to 1.42 g/t in the latest update.
“The updated mineral resource estimate reported herein, which represents a potential step change to the economic value of Toroparu, underlies the scoping of a long mine life project within the PEA recovering 280,000 ounces of gold in the first year of operation in 2024 and an estimated 225,000 ounces of gold per year from both surface and underground mining operations over 24 years,” the CEO related.
A total of 5.4 million ounces of gold is expected to be produced over the LOM (life of mine) in the PEA, an approximately 20 per cent increase from the previous PEA prepared by Gold X Mining in July 2019.
The CEO added that they have already commenced pre-construction activities at the Toroparu Project site and have hired Haukes Construction (Guyana) Ltd, a division of Haukes NV of Suriname, for construction of the preliminary earthworks at Toroparu, with development of the permanent man-camp, airstrip and rock quarries currently underway. Further, preparations are also being made for the rehabilitation of the historic access road, scheduled for early this year.
The PEA envisions an expansion of milling capacity to 14,000 tpd with the addition of a copper concentrator in year six, and the addition of underground mining operations in year 10 of the mine life. Importantly, the Toroparu Deposit is open both along strike and at depth with the additional mineralization potential below the 450m level amenable to underground mining methods.
Nonetheless, it was explained that while Government had previously accepted the previous PEA prepared by Gold X Mining in July 2019 and satisfied the requirement in the Company’s Mineral Agreement for delivery of a technical study demonstrating the feasibility of the Project, the new discoveries reflects a major, and much improved, change in the operating plan for the Project.
As a result, Paredes said, it is expected that the Government will have to review the new PEA prior to issuing the mining licence in 2022.
The two large-scale gold mining operations here – Troy Resources at Karouni and Zijin at Aurora, both in Region Seven – have encountered a variety of production and other challenges in recent years.
