Altiplano Metals Inc. (TSXV: APN) has been granted Exploitation Permit for the Maria Luisa historical Gold-Copper mine by the Chilean mining authority Servicio Nacional de Geologia y Mineria (SERNAGEOMIN). The Maria Luisa project is located within the Atacama Region 100 km north of La Serena in Incahuasi, Chile.
This approval provides the company the authorisation to begin underground exploration and development work at Maria Luisa. With the approval in place, the company plans to establish an underground decline system designed to reach gold-copper mineralised veins through multiple access points on multiple levels.
CEO, Alastair McIntyre, said the initial decline system will enter at the southwest corner of the property and advance in a southeast direction for approximately 350 metres to intersect the mineralized zone beneath the historical workings.
“I am pleased the approval process for the Maria Luisa gold – copper project has been completed and we can now focus on the development phase,” Mr McIntyre said.
“Historical work at Maria Luisa has yielded very good results including areas of past production where approximately 6.89 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 1.89% copper were recovered.
“In addition, the relatively under-explored area to the NW, where a separate NS vein structure occurs has yielded underground chip samples of 8.73 grams per tonne gold over 5.74 m, provides us with an exciting new area to explore and develop.”
The design process involves accessing the northwest-southeast trending mineralised Au-Cu veins through crosscuts on four separate levels designed to create up to eight mining faces.
The company plans to initially extract up to 3,000 tonnes of mineralised gold-copper material in Phase I with future opportunity to expand to 5,000 tonnes.
The development work will also be guided by a surface and underground drill program to assist with future grade control. The construction time is expected to be approximately 6 months with fully funded Phase 1 costs anticipated at US$600,000.
During the construction/development phase, the company will have opportunity to extract Au-Cu mineralised bulk samples that can be sold to nearby processing plants to offset some of the development costs in advance of a full ramp up,
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