Condor Gold plc said it had started a 5,000-metre diamond drill programme on the Cacao Vein to prove the potential increase in mineral resource at La India gold project in Nicaragua.
Cacao is located 4km from the planned processing plant at the company’s fully permitted La India mine.
Condor said that the vein was a potential satellite deposit to La India, America and Mestiza open pits.
The drill programme’s main objectives are to increase the inferred mineral resource on the “highly prospective” Cacao Vein; to increase the strike length of the vein towards the Santa Barbara prospect, 3 km away; and to prove the structural geological model that Cacao represents a dilational opening between two major basement feeder zones (the La India and Andrea Corridors).
Cacao already hosts an inferred mineral resource of 662 Kt at 2.8 g/t gold for 60,000 oz gold defined by Condor from 2,890 m drilling in 2019.
The company said that the Cacao Vein was one of the thickest in the district, comparable to the main La India Vein and with identical mineral textures.
Isolated exposures of quartz veins in bedrock and colluvium suggest the Cacao structure extends for 3-4km.
Samples from active artisanal mine workings in the Rio Viejo, approximately 1.6km along strike from Cacao, returned assays of up to 11.6 g/t gold.
A hot spring deposit (sinter) at Cacao indicates minimal erosion, with the entire epithermal system preserved. Sinter is the rock found at the top of an epithermal boiling zone.
The company added that there were higher grades at depth at Cacao and previous drilling indicated improving gold grade at depth, suggesting the presence of a boiling-related bonanza zone.
“Condor has successfully permitted a new processing plant of up to 2,800 tpd, along with the associated mine site infrastructure, and is currently completing detailed engineering studies to make the project ‘shovel ready’,” said chairman and chief executive Mark Child.
“Initial production is expected to be 120,000 oz gold p.a. from three permitted open pits.
“In parallel, Condor is now embarking on the exciting second part of its strategy: demonstrating the potential for a 5Moz gold district with the initial focus on a 5,000m drilling programme at Cacao.”