Spanish Mountain Gold Ltd (TSX-V:SPA) is continuing to advance its eponymous project in British Columbia towards potentially becoming a mine.
Staff for this Fall's field program have been mobilized to the property to build on last year's successful publication of the pre-feasibility study (PFS), which outlined an operation generating over 150,000 ounces of gold a year at all-in-sustaining-costs (AISC) of US$801 per ounce over 14 years.
Metallurgical test work with Ausenco Engineering to further improve gold recovery and to develop a detailed flowsheet is continuing, the firm said.
"The field program underway will extract samples from five drill holes within the defined pit in order to complete variability sample testing and confirm the metallurgical performance with the optimized flowsheet," the company said.
"Once the current metallurgical program is complete, the optimized flowsheet and the detailed processing configuration will form the basis for ore processing and the recovery of gold in the definitive feasibility study," it added.
Geotechnical work
To achieve efficiency in overall project costs and schedule, the company said it would also conduct geotechnical work on three of the five holes drilled for the metallurgical program.
Spanish Mountain also said it is "fast-tracking" its multi-million ounce resource through the process for environmental assessment (EA) permitting.
Environmental field studies this year are focused on completing baseline studies ahead of the planned preparation of the site-wide water balance and water quality model in Q1, 2023 to support preparation of the environmental assessment application later in 2023, it said.
"Surface water quality, hydrology, and aquatic habitat studies are ongoing with completion of these baseline study reports on target for Q1, 2023," the company added.
In terms of electricity, Spanish Mountain said through its collaboration with the provincial utility BC Hydro, it has identified a "number of opportunities that may potentially reduce capital and operating costs as well as greenhouse gas emissions from the proposed mine".
Productive negotiations are continuing with First Nations, with site visits by community representatives to be conducted this Fall, the firm said.
Spanish Mountain Gold is focused on advancing its wholly-owned Spanish Mountain gold project in southern central British Columbia.
Contact the writer at giles@proactiveinvestors.com