Antilles Gold Limited (ASX: AAU, OTCQB: ANTMF) has achieved an important milestone in the development of the Los Llanos Project in Cuba with the reaching of an International Economic Assessment (IEA) agreement with a subsidiary of the Cuban Government’s mining company, GeoMinera SA.
The IEA is effectively a global exploration agreement with GeoMinera under which Antilles Gold:
- Can conduct preliminary exploration and studies of previously explored gold and copper/gold deposits in Cuba that are included in the IEA before recommending which Mining Concessions should be transferred to the existing joint venture mining company, Minera La Victoria SA, for further exploration and potential development;
- Can recommend – after initial review – which deposits should be added to the Los Llanos Project;
- Can recommend the removal of properties from the IEA if they demonstrate insufficient prospectivity; and
- Will be reimbursed all expenditure spent on a particular property if it is ultimately developed by Minera La Victoria SA.
To date, a number of promising properties have been recommended for inclusion in the IEA.
- Three highly prospective porphyry copper/gold deposits;
- A large VMS copper/gold deposit at Golden Hills; and –
- Sulphide gold deposits at Florencia and Maclama.
The previously explored porphyry deposits were recommended by the company after undertaking a review of nearly 20 copper/gold deposits offered by GeoMinera.
Two of the three deposits are four km apart in volcaniclastic rocks intruded by individual porphyry clusters of large dimension and present excellent exploration targets for a major copper/gold open pit operation.
Antilles Gold Executive Chairman, Brian Johnson, said Antilles Gold is in the process of establishing an office in Camaguey in south east Cuba which will operate with a group of geologists and support staff to undertake the planned activities.
The company’s Australian Exploration Director, Dr Chris Grainger, will be General Manager for the Los Llanos Project. Dr Grainger is a highly experienced geologist with a background in important gold and base metals discoveries in Central and South America and has the added advantage of being fluent in speaking Spanish.
The Los Llanos Project exploration team will commence the following activities in mid-2022:
• Interpretation of existing data;
• Detailed geological mapping; and
• Ground magnetics and induced polarisation (IP) geophysical surveys.
Mr Johnson said a decision on which properties justify preliminary drilling and scoping studies in 2023 will be made after completion of the programme of works.
He said the Los Llanos Project will effectively act as an “incubator” for mining projects that might follow the near-term development of the La Demajagua gold/silver mine.
The pipeline of current development opportunities, and those that may be added in the future, should assist the partnership with GeoMinera to achieve its aim of progressively establishing Minera La Victoria SA as a substantial mining company in Cuba.
“I’m excited by the prospect of an experienced exploration group moving forward with the identification of what could be the follow-up project to the La Demajagua open pit mine,” Mr Johnson said.
“The Board is also excited to have such an experienced and successful explorationist as Dr Grainger managing this new phase of the company’s progress.
“We are confident that shareholders will be enthusiastic about the scale and prospectivity of the porphyry copper/gold deposits when the relevant geological data and the proposed work program are published after being finalised in conjunction with GeoMinera.”
For further information please visit: https://antillesgold.net/
