Friday 1 February 2013

Patagonia Gold speeds up Lomada development


Patagonia Gold (LON:PGD, TSE:PAT) has decided to expand the size of its heap leach pad at the Lomada de Leiva project in Argentina to bring forward full production by several months.
Construction of the first stage of the fully permitted project is well advanced, it said, and on target for commencement of leaching in the second quarter of 2013.
To accelerate gold production, the existing 135,000 tonnes trial pad is being increased to 315,000 tonnes capacity, preparation for which is also well advanced said the company.
Mining and loading of ore onto the pad has already commenced with irrigation set to start next month.
Patagonia has so far produced 4,045 ounces of gold, representing over 66% of contained gold and continues to leach. Processing and smelting is on-going.
It received its first revenue from gold sales in December of US$708,000 for 425.67 ounces of gold produced during the commissioning of the gold room production facility.
A further 38 kilos of doré containing approximately 1,120 ounces of gold has since been processed from existing carbon stocks and is now ready for dispatch to the refinery.
Lomada's development is designed to provide cash flow for Patagonia’s flagship projects at Cap-Oeste, the COSE bonanza gold and silver deposit and other prospects located on the El Tranquilo property block in Santa Cruz province.
Patagonia added that preliminary results from an expanded IP study over the Cap Oeste/COSE structure and NW El Tranquilo block revealed two completely new large induced polarisation (IP) anomalies striking in the same direction as the Cap-Oeste/COSE anomaly and offset by approximately 700 metres.
"The anomalies are significant in that their intensity and size are very similar to the existing anomalies over Cap-Oeste/COSE and also the Don Pancho prospect," it said.
A preliminary exploration programme will test both of the new targets during the 2013 campaign while concentrating on exploration within the highly prospective corridors of Cap-Oeste/COSE and Don Pancho.
At COSE, Patagonia said the construction of the underground access decline is now planned for the second half of 2013 so that all available effort and funds can be focused towards bringing Lomada into full production.

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