Condor Gold plc (AIM: CNR/TSX: COG) has received a key extension to complete the conditions of the key environmental permit to develop and extract ore from La India Project open pit in Nicaragua.
Authorities have given Condor until July 27, 2021 to finalise its environmental paperwork.
Meanwhile, Condor has completed the mine and waste dump schedule completed for the open pit, which hosts economic mineral reserve of 6.9Mt at 3.1g/t gold for 675,000 oz gold
Also completed are water and sewage management studies for the processing plant offices and accommodation have been completed, along with a forestry inventory and reforestation plan of 10 new trees for every tree cut down.
Chairman and CEO Commented, Mark Child, report Tailings Storage Facility final engineering designs and the majority of Surface Water Management System for the mine have been awarded to Tierra Group Inc, Denver, USA, and are in progress.
“The objective is to de-risk La India Project and complete all studies ahead of a construction decision, thereby making the Project ‘shovel ready’,” Mr Child said.
“Several studies have already been completed: mine schedule, waste dump schedule, water and sewage management study for the offices and accommodation for the processing plant, the forestry inventory and reforestation plan.
“Condor is fully engineering the Tailings Storage Facility and Surface Water Management System required for the mine, both studies are in progress.
“Offers have been made to buy the surface rights from all landowners within the mine site infrastructure, 50% have accepted.
“Designs for a fuel station for backup power are almost completed and studies to connect the processing plant to the electricity grid are underway.”
Condor received an Environmental Permit to construct and operate a new mine at its La India Project in August 2018.
The La India open pit hosts an economic mineral reserve of 6.9Mt at 3.1g/t gold for 675,000 oz gold and represents less than a third of the global mineral resource estimate at La India Project.
In other developments, Condor has doubled the land acquisition team; four in-house lawyers and several members of the social team are working on acquiring the land required for the mine site infrastructure.
Offers have been made to all landowners, over 50% have accepted. Designs for the fuel service station to support the processing plant are almost finalised.
The national electricity company has confirmed that the Government is building a new electricity sub-station 12km from the processing plant; designs for supplying grid power via the new sub-station are underway. An updated forestry inventory has been completed.
