EXPLORATION: South America Snapshot: Eight companies advancing assets

With its vast mineral potential and pro-mining business environment, South America has long been a home away from home for North American listed mineral explorers, developers and miners. Here is a look at eight such companies that are active at gold projects and mines. AURANIA RESOURCES Toronto-based Aurania Resources is exploring for gold at its Lost Cities project in southeastern Ecuador in the Cordillera del Cutucu region, which is contiguous with the Cordillera del Condor. The Cutucu forms part of the Northern Andean Jurassic metallogenic belt, which contains clusters of porphyry copper, gold-copper skarn and epithermal gold deposits. In an update in early May, Aurania reported that its first scout drilling program at Crunchy Hill on the property indicates an epithermal gold-silver system and epithermal-related alteration, though no significant vein systems were intersected. The junior notes that its reconnaissance exploration program is 40% complete, with seven dedicated teams, and access agreements signed with 67% of the communities located within the project area. CONTINENTAL GOLD Toronto-based, Ari Sussman-led Continental Gold describes itself as “the most advanced, large scale gold mining company in Colombia,” as it develops its wholly owned Buritica gold mine project in Antioquia for scheduled production in 2020. Miners at Buritica will soon tap into reserves of 13.7 million tonnes grading 8.4 g/t gold, or 3.7 million oz. of contained gold. A recently updated resource estimate tallied 16 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 10.32 g/t, or 5.32 million oz. of contained gold, plus 21.9 million tonnes at 8.56 g/t gold for 6.02 million oz. of containedgold. Continental says Buritica is a “rare combination of size, grade, straightforward metallurgy, excellent infrastructure, and growth potential,” and that according to an updated technical report released in March 19, Buritica “will be a lowest quartile cost producer and an economically robust mine,” with the “potential to approximately double the formal production of gold in Colombia, and become the largest single gold mine in the country.” GOLDEN ARROW RESOURCES Golden Arrow Resources, part of the Vancouver-based Grosso Group, owns a 25% share of Puna Operations Inc., a joint venture with SSR Mining that owns the Chinchillas open pit silver-lead-zinc mine in Argentina. Golden Arrow discovered the Chinchillas deposit and delineated it between 2012 and 2015, and the partners put it into commercial production on Dec. 1, 2018. In the first quarter of 2019, Chinchillas produced 2.4 million oz. of silver, 6.8 million lb. of lead and 1.6 million lb. of zinc. Mineralized material processed during the quarter contained an average grade of 235 g/t silver per tonne, and silver recoveries reached 91.7%. In addition to Puna Operations, Golden Arrow has a portfolio of more than 2,000 km² of properties in Argentina, including Antofalla, Don Bosco, Caballos, Mogote, Pescado and Potrerillos. In July 2016, it signed an option agreement for the Antofalla silver-gold-base metal property in Catamarca province. It says Antofalla has geological similarities to Chinchillas. It also has two Chilean projects in proximity: the Indiana gold-copper project and the Atlantida copper-gold project. Indiana has an inferred resource of 3.1 million tonnes at 2.8 g/t gold and 1.6% copper. Atlantida has a historical resource of 427 million tonnes at 0.20% copper and 0.34 g/t gold, based on a drill database of 29,000 metres. GRAN COLOMBIA GOLD Toronto-based, mid-tier gold miner Gran Colombia Gold is Colombia’s  largest underground gold and silver producer, with several mines operating at its Segovia and Marmato operations. Gran Colombia says it is “continuing to focus on exploration, expansion and modernization activities at its high grade Segovia operations.” The company produced 218,000 oz. of gold in 2018, up 25% over 2017, and entered 2019 on a strong note, with record quarterly gold production of 60,601 oz. of gold leading to new highs for revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Gran Colombia executive chairman Serafino Iacono said in a release that the firm’s technical studies at the Marmato project “are gaining momentum, and we remain on track to complete a preliminary economic assessment later this year. With another 20,472 oz. of gold produced in April, our second quarter is picking up right where we left off in March.” LEAGOLD MINING Vancouver-based Leagold Mining owns the Los Filos mine complex in Mexico, and the RDM, Fazenda and Pilar mines in Brazil, with consolidated production in 2018 reaching 302,550 oz. of gold at all-in sustaining costs of US$974 per oz. This year, Leagold forecasts production of between 380,000 and 420,000 oz. of gold at AISC of between US$920 and US$970 per oz. of gold. Breaking down its 2019 guidance, the Los Filos mine complex — which has two open pit mines (Los Filos and Bermejal), and an underground mine (Los Filos) — could produce 200,000 to 220,000 oz. of gold. RDM, an open pit mine, is expected to produce between 72,000 and 80,000 oz. of gold; Fazenda, an underground mine, between 63,000 and 70,000 oz.; and the Pilar mine, a complex of underground mines, 45,000 to 50,000 oz. Leagold acquired the Los Filos complex, 180 km south of Mexico City, in 2017, and its three Brazilian mines in May 2018. Leagold completed a feasibility study on expanding the Los Filos mine in March 2019, and outlined the potential to increase gold production to more than 400,000 oz. of gold a year. Expansion opportunities include developing the Bermejal underground mine, expanding the Los Filos open pit mine, rephasing the Bermejal open pit into two sections (Bermejal and Guadalupe), and building a 4,000-t/d carbon-in-leach plant. MERIDIAN MINING Brazil-focused junior Meridian Mining is producing manganese at its Espigao do Oeste project site in the state of Rondonia in northwestern Brazil. The company got a trial production licence in September 2018 that allows the extraction of 6,000 tonnes of manganese oxide concentrate per year from its exploration licences. Manganese oxides are hosted in colluvial and saprolite horizons. The mineralization is freely dug, pre-concentrated at the site and processed using gravity separation. No drilling, blasting or chemical beneficiation is required. Three hundred kilometres north of Espigao do Oeste, Meridian is evaluating prospects for processing tin from tailings at the Bom Futuro mine in the Ariquemes tin district. Mineralization was discovered at Bom Futuro in 1987, and since then mining operations have generated 192,000 tonnes of tin. Meridian is evaluating tailings reprocessing scenarios in allocated areas. The company has access to more than 8.8 km² of tailings for re-processing. The company notes that over the last few years, local co-operatives have reprocessed tailings associated with historic production, and have generated nearly 7,000 tonnes of since 2010. NEW ENERGY METALS From its base in Vancouver, New Energy Metals is focused on exploring and developing energy metals in Chile. Its assets include the Cristal copper project in northern Chile’s Atacama region and several prospective cobalt projects in the country’s past-producing San Juan cobalt district. The Cristal copper project, located near the port city of Arica, next to the Peruvian border, has not seen exploration since BHP Billiton saw the property under an option agreement in 2012. Now Energy Metals wants to follow up on initial exploration work that included airborne magnetics, gravity EM studies and limited drilling, and focus on an area where a large geophysical anomaly several kilometres wide was identified. It plans to drill four to six holes to test the principal target in a US$1 million to US$1.5 million drill program. The company says the anomaly measures several kilometres across, and shows a weak magnetic high surrounded by a magnetic low, which could indicate a buried copper porphyry system. SIERRA METALS Based in Toronto, Sierra Metals  owns and operates three precious and base metal mines in Latin America: the 82%-owned Yauricocha mine in Peru, and the Bolivar and Cusi mines in Mexico. Located in Lima Department, the Yauricocha mine produces silver, lead, zinc, copper and gold from a high temperature, carbonate replacement deposit. It’s an underground mine, with miners using sublevel caving and cut and fill methods, as well as ore processing in a flotation plant. In Mexico, Bolivar produces copper, silver and gold, while the smaller Cusi produces silver, lead, gold and zinc. Both are underground mines. In 2018, on a consolidated basis, Sierra Metals produced 2.7 million oz. of silver (a 17% increase from 2017), 34 million lb. of copper (27% increase), 76.8 million lb. of zinc (1% increase), 27.7 million lb. of lead (7% decrease) and 7,743 oz. of gold (25% increase). Full-year financial results are available soon. The company says its “has continued to be successful in maintaining positive operating cash flow generation from its existing operations in order to reduce debt levels, fund required capital expenditures, and maintain liquidity.” A version of this story first appeared on www.NorthernMiner.com.