Vancouver – Having been plagued with startup problems, Andean American Mining (AAG-V) has its pilot plant up and running on the Santa Rosa property in southern Peru.
After hiring new contractors and reducing the size of the ore going into the crusher, the 1,000-tonne-per-day plant has been going continuously at a rate of 500-700 tonnes per day since Aug. 15.
Adjustments to the operations include the addition of in-pit vibratory screening and in-pit ripping, the addition of a three-inch-and-less circuit direct from pit to secondary crusher and the quadrupling of carbon-in-column capacity. The junior feels that production should now reach between 1,200 and 1,400 tonnes per day.
The company hopes to have its first concentrate shipped by Sept. 20.
“I expect the next two to three months (of operations) will be pretty jerky at best, then we shall get into a smooth flow,” says John Huguet, Andean’s CEO.
Resources stand at 1.5 million tonnes grading 3.85 grams gold and 56.4 grams silver per tonne, giving a pilot plant life of 4.5 years at 1,000 tpd throughput.
The company says it is confident that ongoing exploration will not only increase the life of the operation but will also boost the grade to between 7 and 9 grams gold. It says the increase would be due to better control of operations and sampling than that carried out by previous companies in the mid-1990s.
Earlier this year, Placer Dome (PDG-T) inked a deal with the Vancouver-based junior to earn a majority interest in the surrounding ground.
Under an option agreement, Placer can earn an initial 55% interest in the property by spending US$3.6 million on exploration and paying US$2.2 million through to January 2004.The major can increase its interest to 60% by proceeding with a feasibility study. By funding the study, it can boost its interest to 70%.
Situated 120 southwest of the city of Cuzco, Santa Rosa consists of 20 concessions covering 13,340 hectares.
Placer Dome has identified more than 15 targets within a structural trend measuring 15 km by 4 km.
Andean has excluded the mine area from its agreement with Placer. However, if the major makes a production decision, Andean will include the zone.
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