Minera Alamos pours first gold at Santana mine in Mexico

Minera Alamos (TSXV: MAI) has poured its first gold at its 100%-owned Santana mine in Sonora, Mexico, five months after beginning mining operations.

The Vancouver-based company said the gold was recovered from early material stacked on the mine’s heap leach pad in July and August.

The miner said it intended primarily to commission the carbon recovery plant and associated solution pumping systems in advance of ramping up daily mining operations. 

Leaching activities started at the end of August, as the rainy season subsided. 

“We are thrilled to have turned the corner to become a gold producer at our first mine in Mexico,” CEO Darren Koningen said in a media statement. “It is truly a credit to the abilities of our technical group that we have managed to successfully complete this transition while dealing with all the challenges of the last 18 months as a result of the pandemic.”

Minera Alamos noted that roughly 400 ounces of gold was contained in the doré poured from the first shipment of carbon sent off site to validate the operational and QA/QC procedures from the treatment facility being considered for future gold concentrate (carbon) processing.  This material has been sent for final refining and sale.

The company also owns 100% of the La Fortuna project in Mexico’s Durango state, about 85 km southwest of the city of Culiacan. Based on a preliminary economic assessment, the gold-silver-copper project would have a mine life of five years based on an initial resource starter pit and average annual production of 50,000 equivalent ounces of gold.