Condor Gold begins infill drilling at La India open pit

Condor Gold has started a 1,700 metre infill geotechnical drilling programme within the permitted La India open pit, it announced on Tuesday.

The AIM-traded firm said two diamond drill rigs had been deployed to expedite progress, with the programme expected to take between five and six weeks to complete.

It said the programme was designed to achieve a feasibility level of design by SRK Consulting UK, and would complement other ongoing feasibility study-level work programmes already underway.

The goal was to collect “high quality” data that would allow for the refinement of pit wall design slopes, potentially positively impacting on the waste stripping quantities, which if successful could positively expand the reserves within La India open pit, particularly if the pit pushed deeper.

Condor said the 2014 pre-feasibility study was conducted at $1,250 per ounce of gold, adding that the current work programme would align final pit slopes and future pit designs with current gold market conditions, where it was expected that it could push the pit deeper and convert the current underground mineral resource beneath the pit into an open-pit mineral resource.

The drill programme would consist of a total of 13 diamond core drill holes ranging in depth from 50 meters to 200 meters from surface, with an average length of 131 meters, and drilling being conducted with oriented core equipment, followed by either acoustic or optical televiewer logging to confirm structures and rock types.

Analysis of the resulting information and summary reporting would be provided by SRK, the board confirmed.

“The feasibility level of designs of the geotechnical study builds on the 2014 pre-feasibility study on La India open pit, which hosts a probable mineral reserve of 6.9 million tonnes at 3.1 grams per tonne for 675,000 ounces of gold,” said chairman and chief executive officer Mark Child.

“The pre-feasibility study was conducted at a $1,250 per ounce gold price.

“Beneath La India open pit there is an underground mineral resource of 678,000 tonnes at 4.9 grams per tonne for 107,000 ounces of gold in the indicated category, and 1.12 million tonnes at 5.6 grams per tonne for 209,000 ounces of gold in the inferred category.”

At 1237 BST, shares in Condor Gold were up 0.22% at 46.6p.