In January, Geomaque Explorations (GEO-T) reached a new production record at its San Francisco gold mine in Mexico’s Sonora state.
The open-pit, heap-leach operation cranked out 5,142 oz., representing a 25% increase from the previous month. The increase is mainly due to the processing of higher-grade material.
Meanwhile, a US$5-million expansion program is under way in an attempt to increase annual production to 80,000 oz. gold from the current 36,000 oz. The program was launched in October 1996 on the basis of drill results that increased proven and probable reserves by 50% to 24.5 million tonnes grading 0.92 gram gold per tonne.
Expansion of the gold recovery plant is nearing completion, and a new 300,000-tonne-per-month, 3-stage crusher is expected to be operational by the end of March.
Geomaque expects cash costs for 1997 to fall below US$220 per oz., down from the US$235 per oz. incurred in 1996.
Reverse-circulation drilling continues to test the eastern and western strike extensions and downdip extension north of the pit limit, the objective being to increase reserves, which currently stand at 726,000 oz. gold. Total gold resources are estimated at 1.4 million oz.
The company is also testing gold targets adjacent to the San Francisco mine.
One of these, La Chicharra, lies 2.5 km west of the mine and is being tested with a ground magnetic survey. Previous drilling at the target returned up to 3.72 grams gold over 18 metres.
Meanwhile, Geomaque has begun a diamond drill programon the Vueltas del Rio in Honduras. The 6,000-metre program will attempt to bump up the resource to the proven and probable category in preparation for a feasibility study, due late in the year.
The deposit consists of three separate mineralized zones — Main (West), Nelson and South. These occur in an east-west-striking shear zone measuring 1.5 km long by 300 metres wide.
Resources for the three zones are pegged at 500,000 oz. gold, slightly more than half of which is contained in oxides amenable to heap leaching.
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