Soma Gold Corp, the Colombia-focused miner, has outlined its exploration plans for 2022, which includes 20,000 metres (m) of drilling at its assets in Antioquia to be fully funded from cashflow.
In addition to the drilling, Soma said the Phase 2 program of work would include a soil and stream sediment sampling program covering 4,500 hectares (Ha) and 16.4 kilometers (km) of ground geoelectrical survey at its Estrella-Diamantina project.
The company also aims to update the NI 43-101 resource estimates for 29,000 Ha of mineral rights on its Operadora (El Bagre), Four Points (El Limon) and Zara properties.
The drilling is the second year of the group's five year exploration strategy of over 100,000 meters of drilling, soil and stream sediment sampling and geophysics, which is aimed at lifting Soma's resource to more than 750,000 ounces by 2026.
"There is significant potential for additional high-grade gold discoveries in this underexplored, yet highly mineralized region of Soma's concessions," said Javier Cordova, CEO of Soma, in a statement.
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"Our exploration team in Colombia continues to refine our geological model with an emphasis on understanding the structural controls over the gold grade distribution. Our 2022 exploration plan is designed to provide new information and to potentially identify new gold anomalies on our mining concessions."
The El Limon mine, which historically produced over 250,000 ounces of gold, sits on the Estrella-Diamantina trend within the firm's Zara concessions.
This year, Soma will focus on in-fill and step-out drilling in the south and north end of the Estrella-Diamantina trend, near the Diamantina and La Estrella small-scale mines, and test vein and grade continuity in other exploration targets at the Limoncito and Cañon de Rojas areas, it said.
Soma said 15,000m of drilling was planned to expand known mineralization at the south end of the target area and to test vein and grade continuity along strike and down-dip across the 7km long Estrella-Diamantina trend, with 5,000m planned for two targets at the south end of Zara's concessions.
Updating on its Cordero mine, Soma said construction was nearly complete, and that mining from stopes on Level 2, and mining on Level 3 will begin in February, this year. Construction to access Level 5 will be completed by June, it added.
In January, Soma completed the repayment of the first tranche of the NG Gold loan, with 12% of first 24,500 ounces produced being paid.
The second tranche is based on 6% of the next 22,000 ounces produced and Soma said it expect to complete this repayment by the fourth quarter this year.
The reduction in the percentage of production that gets paid to NG positively impacts the company's cash flow by around US$200,000 per month, and completion of the Cordero mine construction will also reduce cost by around US$300,000 per month, the miner told investors.
Soma owns two adjacent mining properties - La Ye and Mangos - in Antioquia, Colombia with a combined milling capacity of 675 tonnes per day (tpd), and is permitted for 1,400 tpd.
The El Bagre mill is currently operating and producing and internally generated funds are being used to finance a regional exploration program. Soma also owns an exploration and development property near Tucuma, Para State, Brazil.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com