Esperanza Silver (EPZ-v) has tabled the first resource estimate for its Cerro Jumil gold project in Mexico’s Morelos state, and is now in prefeasibility-study mode.
The potential heap-leach gold project has a measured and indicated resource of 23.2 million tonnes grading 0.85 gram gold and 0.6 gram silver per tonne for 636,000 oz. gold and 479,000 oz. silver.
Cerro Jumil hosts a further 15.8 million inferred tonnes at 0.74 gram gold and 11.9 grams silver for 378,000 oz. gold and 6.1 million oz. silver.
All together, Esperanza estimates the project has 642,000 gold-equivalent oz. measured and indicated and another 442,000 gold-equivalent oz. inferred.
The resource estimate is based on more than 32,000 metres of drilling in 177 holes — work completed since June 2005 when the company discovered the West zone.
The resource includes two other zones, named Southeast and Las Calabazas. West and Las Calabazas, which the company hopes to expand, contain silver and gold while Southeast hosts only gold mineralization.
Esperanza used a cutoff grade of 10 grams gold per tonne and 125 grams silver and a gold-equivalent cutoff grade of 0.3 gram per tonne.
For the prefeasibility study, metallurgical testing has already begun. In the past, testing has shown that conventional and heap-leach recoveries were about 95% and 73%, respectively.
The company intends to upgrade its inferred resources to measured and indicated and plans to test a new target west of the Las Calabazas area and the northern extension of the West zone.
Esperanza also holds the San Luis gold-silver project in Peru through a joint venture with Silver Standard Resources (SSO-T, SSRI-q), which owns 55% but can earn up to 80% by funding the property through to production. The company expects to complete a resource estimate for the project by the end of the year.
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