REG - Condor Gold PLC - Completion of Drilling for Feasibility Study

Condor GoldAnnouncement

30/11/2021 07:00

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RNS Number : 9458T  Condor Gold PLC  30 November 2021

 

 

     Condor Gold plc

     7/8 Innovation Place

     Douglas Drive

     Godalming

     Surrey

     GU7 1JX

     Tel: +44 (0) 207 493 2784

 

30 November 2021

 

Condor Gold Plc

("Condor", "Condor Gold" or the "Company")

 

Completion of 2,551 m Geotechnical Drilling for Feasibility Study on the La
India Open Pit

 

Please view the following link for full release including figures:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/9458T_1-2021-11-29.pdf
(http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/9458T_1-2021-11-29.pdf)

 

Condor Gold (AIM: CNR; TSX: COG) is pleased to announce the completion of the
geotechnical drilling for the upcoming Feasibility Study (FS) at its 100%
owned La India Project (the "Project"). Further to the update of 19 October
2021, the programme required a total of 2,551.50 m of oriented core drilling
backed by the use of optical and acoustic televiewer scanning, as well as
geotechnical lab testing on core samples.  This new information is in
addition to the data set developed for the Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS)
which consisted of 11 geotechnical holes for a total of 1,836.25 m, and 12
resource drill holes for a total of 2550.43m which have been logged for
geotechnical purposes.

 

Both the PFS and the current FS geotechnical programmes were designed and were
being monitored by SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd ("SRK"), which included a recent
site visit by a senior geotechnical consultant. The primary objective of the
geotechnical programme is to upgrade the PFS work to an FS level.

 

Highlights

·    21 geotechnical drill holes completed in 2021 for a total of 2,551.50
m of geotechnical drilling for a geotechnical study to FS level on La India
Open Pit

·    Optical and/or acoustic televiewer employed depending on hole
conditions

·    Laboratory analysis of rock mass units on selected core samples is
underway at Agapito Associates and Advanced Terra Testing, Colorado, USA.

·    A combined 32 geotechnical drill holes for 3,251.50 m has been
completed on La India open pit providing sufficient data for FS level design
pit angles for the pit over the life of mine.

 

Mark Child, Chairman and CEO commented:

"The completion of an additional 2,551.50 m of geotechnical drilling for a
total of 3,251,50 m of geotechnical drilling to date in support of the slope
stability assessment, which includes pit slope angles, represents a
significant milestone in the completion of the Feasibility Study for La India
Open Pit. The geotechnical analysis will establish the design parameters for
the ultimate pit design and the intermediate phases, which in turn will govern
the detailed production schedule that underlies the Feasibility Study due in
the first quarter of 2022."

 

Background

Condor announced the commencement of geotechnical drilling in an RNS on the 15
June 2021.

 

 

Figure 1: Location of all Geotechnical Drilling to Date on La India Open Pit

 

Note: 17 geotechnical holes in 2021 including 4 holes redrilled at
same/similar drill collar.

 

 

As noted, the objective of the additional geotechnical drilling was to update
the understanding of the pit slope stability to a Feasibility Study level of
design. The initial 1,700 m was completed in September 2021.  Following a
review of the results by SRK the programme was extended with an additional
five drill holes to further refine the dataset and provide better coverage of
key areas of the pit wall. The final data collection from 21 drill holes,
including 4 holes that were re-drilled, for 2,551.50 m of drill core was
completed on the 19 November, with acceptance of the programme by SRK
confirmed the following week.

 

Laboratory analysis of the mechanical characteristics of the rock mass units
was awarded to Agapito Associates Inc and Advanced Terra Testing Inc, both in
Colorado, USA and has been conducted in parallel with the geotechnical
drilling program.

 

Results of the slope analysis by SRK are expected in December 2021 and will
govern the ultimate pit limits designed for inclusion within the mining
schedules for the Feasibility Study planned for the 1(st) Quarter 2022.

 

About the La India Project and La India Open Pit

Condor announced an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment Technical Report
(PEA) on 9 September 2021, which has subsequently been filed on SEDAR. A
highlight of the PEA is the open pit and underground scenario producing a
Post-Tax NPV5 of US$418M, IRR 54%, average production of 150,000 oz gold p.a.
for 9 years and payback 12 Months. The La India open pit represents the
largest proportion of open-pit production for the La India Project.  La India
open pit inventory in the PEA, which combines an Indicated Mineral Resource
and Inferred Mineral Resource, consists of approximately 8.34 million tonnes
of ore grading 2.56 g/t with 79.62 million tonnes of waste for a strip ratio
of 9.5 to 1.

 

 

- Ends -

For further information please visit www.condorgold.com or contact:

 Condor Gold plc                 Mark Child, Chairman and CEO

                                 +44 (0) 20 7493 2784
 Beaumont Cornish Limited        Roland Cornish and James Biddle

                                 +44 (0) 20 7628 3396
 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP  Ewan Leggat

                                 +44 (0) 20 3470 0470
 H&P Advisory Limited            Andrew Chubb and Nilesh Patel

                                 +44 207 907 8500
 Blytheweigh                     Tim Blythe and Megan Ray

                                 +44 (0) 20 7138 3204

 

About Condor Gold plc:

 

Condor Gold plc was admitted to AIM in May 2006 and dual listed on the TSX in
January 2018. The Company is a gold exploration and development company with a
focus on Nicaragua.

 

On 25 October 2021 Condor announced the filing of a Preliminary Economic
Assessment Technical Report ("PEA") for its La India Project, Nicaragua on
SEDAR https://www.sedar.com (https://www.sedar.com) . The highlight of the
technical study is a post-tax, post upfront capital expenditure NPV of US$418
million, with an IRR of 54% and 12 month pay-back period, assuming a US$1,700
per oz gold price, with average annual production of 150,000 oz gold per annum
for the initial 9 years of gold production for combined open pit and
underground operations. The open pit mine schedules have been optimised from
designed pits, bringing higher grade gold forward resulting in average annual
production of 157,000 oz gold in the first 2 years from open pit material and
underground mining funded out of cashflow.

 

In August 2018, the Company announced that the Ministry of the Environment in
Nicaragua had granted the Environmental Permit ("EP") for the development,
construction and operation of a processing plant with capacity to process up
to 2,800 tonnes per day at its wholly-owned La India gold Project ("La India
Project"). The EP is considered the master permit for mining operations in
Nicaragua. Condor has purchased a new SAG Mill, which has mainly arrived in
Nicaragua. Site clearance and preparation is at an advanced stage.

 

Environmental Permits were granted in April and May 2020 for the Mestiza and
America open pits respectively, both located close to La India. The Mestiza
open pit hosts 92 Kt at a grade of 12.1 g/t gold (36,000 oz contained gold) in
the Indicated Mineral Resource category and 341 Kt at a grade of 7.7 g/t gold
(85,000 oz contained gold) in the Inferred Mineral Resource category. The
America open pit hosts 114 Kt at a grade of 8.1 g/t gold (30,000 oz) in the
Indicated Mineral Resource category and 677 Kt at a grade of 3.1 g/t gold
(67,000 oz) in the Inferred Mineral Resource category. Following the
permitting of the Mestiza and America open pits, together with the La India
Open Pit Condor has 1.12 M oz gold open pit Mineral Resources permitted for
extraction.

 

Disclaimer

 

Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website
accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) is
incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

 

Qualified Persons

 

The technical and scientific information in this press release has been
reviewed, verified and approved by Andrew Cheatle, P.Geo., who is a "qualified
person" as defined by NI 43-101 and Gerald D. Crawford, P.E., who is a
"qualified person" as defined by NI 43-101 and is the Chief Technical Officer
of Condor Gold plc.

Technical Information

Certain disclosure contained in this news release of a scientific or technical
nature has been summarised or extracted from the technical report entitled
"Technical Report on the La India Gold Project, Nicaragua, October 2021",
dated October 22, 2021 with an effective date of September 9, 2021 (the
"Technical Report"), prepared in accordance with NI 43-101. The Qualified
Persons responsible for the Technical Report are Dr Tim Lucks of SRK
Consulting (UK) Limited, and Mr Fernando Rodrigues, Mr Stephen Taylor and Mr
Ben Parsons of SRK Consulting (U.S.) Inc. Mr Parsons assumes responsibility
for the MRE, Mr Rodrigues the open pit mining aspects, Mr Taylor the
underground mining aspects and Dr Lucks for the oversight of the remaining
technical disciplines and compilation of the report.

 

Forward Looking Statements

All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical
fact, are 'forward-looking information' with respect to the Company within the
meaning of applicable securities laws, including, but not limited to,
statements with respect to: the use of proceeds of the offering; the impact of
a Feasibility Study on, including investor confidence in, the Project; the
ability of the Company to access future financing; the ongoing mining dilution
and pit optimisation studies, and the incorporation of same into any mining
production schedule, future development and production plans at La India
Project. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by
the use of words such as: "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue",
"strategies", "estimate", "expect", "Project", "predict", "potential",
"targeting", "intends", "believe", "potential", "could", "might", "will" and
similar expressions. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future
performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of
management at the date the statements are made including, among others,
assumptions regarding: future commodity prices and royalty regimes;
availability of skilled labour; timing and amount of capital expenditures;
future currency exchange and interest rates; the impact of increasing
competition; general conditions in economic and financial markets;
availability of drilling and related equipment; effects of regulation by
governmental agencies; the receipt of required permits; royalty rates; future
tax rates; future operating costs; availability of future sources of funding;
ability to obtain financing and assumptions underlying estimates related to
adjusted funds from operations. Many assumptions are based on factors and
events that are not within the control of the Company and there is no
assurance they will prove to be correct.

Such forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, which may
cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results
expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, risks
related to: mineral exploration, development and operating risks; estimation
of mineralisation and resources; environmental, health and safety regulations
of the resource industry; competitive conditions; operational risks; liquidity
and financing risks; funding risk; exploration costs; uninsurable risks;
conflicts of interest; risks of operating in Nicaragua; government policy
changes; ownership risks; permitting and licencing risks; artisanal miners and
community relations; difficulty in enforcement of judgments; market
conditions; stress in the global economy; current global financial condition;
exchange rate and currency risks; commodity prices; reliance on key personnel;
dilution risk; payment of dividends; as well as those factors discussed under
the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual information form for the
fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 dated March 31, 2021 and available under
the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could
cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those
described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that
cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or
intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be
accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from
those anticipated in such statements. The Company disclaims any intention or
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law.

 

 

 Technical Glossary

 Feasibility Study              A Feasibility Study is a comprehensive technical and economic study of the
                                selected development option for a mineral project that includes appropriately
                                detailed assessments of applicable Modifying Factors together with any other
                                relevant operational factors and detailed financial analysis that are
                                necessary to demonstrate, at the time of reporting, that extraction is
                                reasonably justified (economically mineable). The results of the study may
                                reasonably serve as the basis for a final decision by a proponent or financial
                                institution to proceed with, or finance, the development of the project. The
                                confidence level of the study will be higher than that of a Pre-Feasibility
                                Study. (CIM Definition Standards)
 Geotechnical Drilling          Drilling that is conducted primarily for the purposes of determining the
                                strength and stability characteristics of a rock mass hosting a mineral
                                resource.  Such drilling determines the type of rock, orientation of faults
                                or fracture patterns, presence of water or other factors determining the
                                design parameters for a mine.
 Preliminary Feasibility Study  A Pre-Feasibility Study is a comprehensive study of a range of options for the
                                technical and economic viability of a mineral project that has advanced to a
                                stage where a preferred mining method, in the case of underground mining, or
                                the pit configuration, in the case of an open pit, is established and an
                                effective method of mineral processing is determined. It includes a financial
                                analysis based on reasonable assumptions on the Modifying Factors and the
                                evaluation of any other relevant factors which are sufficient for a Qualified
                                Person, acting reasonably, to determine if all or part of the Mineral Resource
                                may be converted to a Mineral Reserve at the time of reporting. A
                                Pre-Feasibility Study is at a lower confidence level than a Feasibility Study
 NI 43-101                      Canadian National Instrument 43-101 a common standard for reporting of
                                identified mineral resources and ore reserves
 Oriented Core                  A specialized drilling technique that marks the core samples generated by
                                diamond drilling with the high point of the core.  These markings permit the
                                determination of the faulting or fracturing directions within the rock mass.
 Televiewer                     A down-hole tool that is used to provide either optical or acoustic images of
                                the walls of a drillhole, usually a diamond drill hole.  These images can
                                then be used to further refine the understanding of the orientation of
                                faulting and fracturing with a rock mass.

 

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