Galantas Gold Corp plans to extract a potential 20,000 ounces gold a year from the dilation zones at the lower levels of Cavanacaw mine in Omagh, Northern Ireland.
MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE
The Canadian company, which said it still lacked qualified underground miners, has also completed its first drill hole from underground on a third vein – Kerr – which might extend between the high-grade Joshua and Kearney veins.
Galantas is currently working towards a revised NI 43-101-compliant mineral resource estimate by the end of Q2 2023.
This will incorporate an additional 7,800m of drilling with many drill holes indicating higher gold grades and thicker widths in the previously identified dilation zones in the Joshua and Kearney veins.
POTENTIAL INCREASE
“Given the potentially high grade and thicker widths within dilation zones below the current underground development, the company is proceeding with a sustainable mine plan targeted by the end of Q2 2023 that will allow the company to develop at these lower levels in order to optimise production,” added Galantas.
“The mine plan will determine the suitability of targeting initially 10,000 gold ounces a year, with the potential for this to increase to 20,000 ounces a year, followed by staged expansions.
“The plan is expected to include development options for mining at the lower levels of the Kearney vein and to the north and south extensions of the vein’s existing workings.”
KERR VEIN
Other developments at Cavanacaw include Galantas’ first completed hole targeting the Kerr vein from underground, approximately 200m north of the known surface exposure and 200m south of a “historic base-of-till gold anomaly”.
“Quartz veinlets associated with the sulphide minerals, pyrite and galena, have been recorded in the core within the target zone supporting management’s view that Kerr may extend northwards between the high-grade Joshua and Kearney veins,” said the company.
During the 1980s, Pionjar drilling, or base-of-till sampling, identified 8 g/t gold between the Kearney and Joshua veins, approximately 100m north of the development drift.
Galantas added it intended to drill additional underground holes at Kerr from the crosscut development.
JOSHUA ACCESS
The company will also assess the Joshua vein to identify the best place for the raisebore hole to use as a secondary egress, and for a portal to the north and south extensions for future production.
CONTRACT MINING
Galantas added that recruitment and retention of underground mining crews continued to be a “challenge”.
In April 2022 the company received a visa licence to employ eligible overseas mine workers but today said it was only able to recruit miners from the UK and Ireland which “greatly” affected productivity.
A core group of experienced miners is focusing on plans for mine and waste development, prioritising access to the dilation zones below the current underground workings, while Galantas looks to employ sub-contractors potentially from QME Mining Services (NI) Ltd.