Anacortes Mining Corp announced that has received approval from the Ficha Technical Ambiental (FTA), the environmental instrument required for drilling at its Tres Cruces gold project.
Tres Cruces is in the prolific Quiruvilca mining district in northern Peru and is operated through Anacortes’ wholly owned Peruvian subsidiary, Aurifera Tres Cruces SA (ATC).
The FTA allows for the construction of up to 20 drill pads and covers the main area of oxide and sulfide mineralization, according to the company.
READ: Anacortes Mining files environmental application required to commence drilling at Tres Cruces gold project
ATC has also submitted its application to begin exploration activities. Approval is expected to take approximately 30 days, with drilling anticipated to begin in mid-April 2022, the company said.
The Phase 1 drilling program is designed to confirm previous drilling results, expand oxide resources at edges of known mineralization, test targets beyond areas of known mineralization, convert Indicated Oxide Resources to Measured Oxide Resources, and obtain representative samples of “fresh” oxide samples for metallurgical testing.
ATC is in final discussions with companies to carry out the drilling program.
Anacortes CEO Jim Currie told investors that the company is “very pleased” to have received the “critical” permit.
“With the FTA now in hand, we expect to finalize the permitting process for the Phase 1 drilling program and begin drilling in April,” Currie said in a statement.
“In this first phase of drilling, we plan to deepen holes that ended in wide zones of higher-grade mineralization to test the extent of the deposit and include infill drilling to increase the confidence in the resource as we move Tres Cruces forward.”
Mineralization at the property includes 173 metres (m) averaging 3.118 grams per ton (g/t) gold from 92.0 m to 265.0 m in hole RTC-255, which ended in mineralization.
“Given the strong results from our recently announced preliminary economic assessment, we look forward to acquiring the additional geologic and metallurgical information that will allow us to continue with the development of the Tres Cruces project,” Currie added.
Tres Cruces is one of the highest-grade oxide deposits globally and hosts oxide plus sulphide indicated resources of 2,474,000 ounces at 1.65 g/t gold, inclusive of 630,000 ounces of high-grade leachable gold at 1.28 g/t gold and inferred resources of 104,000 ounces at 1.26 g/t gold.
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