Galantas Gold Corporation said it had increased confidence in developing Cavanacaw gold mine after completing trial stoping at the site in Omagh, County Tyrone.
OPTIMISATION
The Canadian company successfully mined and backfilled six stopes using a narrow vein, modified Avoca longhole open stoping method, in two separate blocks.
A planned minimum stope width of 2.2 metres had a stope length of 10 to 15m, with a vertical distance between the stoping levels of 8m from roof to floor.
Following the successful trials, Galantas plans to increase the distance between levels to 12m.
The team focused on “relatively low-grade” areas of the mine to assess the mining method and to use as a training project for locally trained mining operators.
A total 3,175 tonnes of mineralised material was mined from the six stopes, with reconciliation completed for two of the stopes.
Grades returned an average percentage increase of 113% from models in the 2014 technical report, although not indicative of future grades.
The trials have also led to an optimised cycle of two days, from the initial stope blast to completion of backfill.
Galantas said it could apply the mining method to more than 240 stopes planned for the Kearney and Joshua zones, with grades in the range of 2 to 7g/t gold.
“The trial has brought a high level of understanding to the mine development process and helped us conclude that the Cavanacaw mine can be mined successfully, utilising a long hole mining method and backfill,” added chief executive Mario Stifano.
“The trial stoping has provided sufficient information to bring a high level of confidence for a successful stoping programme in the future.”
The company also reported provisional revenues of US$1,103,000 from 2023 concentrate sales and $207,000 during Q1 2024.
Net proceeds are offset against development assets until Cavanacaw begins commercial production.