Condor Gold (LON:CNR) said Monday that recent metallurgical test work on samples taken from its 100%-owned La India gold project in Nicaragua had confirmed 95.4% gold recovery in laboratory conditions.
The gold recoveries, said the miner, are far better than the ones found during tests carried out in 2014, for preliminary feasibility study, which used material from drill core from the La India and America veins.
Condor says gold recoveries of 94.5% are better than previous metallurgical sampling compiled for the 2014 preliminary feasibility study.Chairman and chief executive Mark Child thanked B2Gold (TSX: BTO) for testing the samples at laboratories at both its El Limon and La Libertad mines, adding the work showed La India's ores could be processed at B2Gold's processing plants, or a similar facility.
"It is invaluable to conduct metallurgical test work at two nearby producing gold mines whose laboratories are set up to replicate the metallurgical recoveries at the mines. It assists Condor in deciding on a final mine design and metallurgical process as the La India project progresses to the construction phase," he said in the statement.
Speaking to MINING.com in January, Child noted that La India open pit was full permitted to produce 600,000 ounces of gold over a six to seven-year period. He added the company was working on an opportunity to enter production in the first half of this year.
The plan is to begin by "mini pit" within the larger, permitted La India open pit and trucking the ore to a nearby processing plant, which has spare capacity. "Condor has firm quotes from local contract mining and haulage companies," Child said.
Shares in the company jumped 2.6% Monday morning to 18.48p, but flattened later at 18p.