Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver, British Columbia — (December 20th , 2018)
Minera Alamos Inc. (“Minera” or the “Company”) (TSX VENTURE:MAI) is pleased to provide an update of its 2018 development activities at the La Fortuna (“Fortuna” or the “Project”) gold project located in Durango, Mexico.
“As one of two foundational assets that have been rapidly advanced this year, La Fortuna now has key permitting and technical milestones in place. This provides a path to a commercial production decision in the second half of 2019,” commented Darren Koningen, Chief Executive Officer.
“Minera can now begin development activities at La Fortuna that will run in parallel with the proposed development of the Santana gold project and allow for our development team to transition from Santana to Fortuna as the year progresses.”
2018 La Fortuna Project Development Highlights
• The completion of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA” – see further details below) demonstrating robust project economics including an after-tax internal rate-of-return of 93% and an all-in sustaining cost (“AISC”) of $440/oz [net of by-product credits].
• The receipt of a positive notification from the Mexican environmental authorities (Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales – “SEMARNAT”) confirming the successful completion of the technical review phase of the Company’s application (Estudio Tecnico Justificativo – “ETJ”) for the change of land use to construct mining and processing facilities at the Fortuna project area. Following the completion of the change of land use payments made earlier this month, SEMARNAT is now in a position to issue the formal approval documentation for the project.
• The completion of the geotechnical studies and design of the “dry-stack” tailings containment facilities for the Project which were submitted to the Mexican Federal Environmental Agency (Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales or “SEMARNAT”) as part of the mine permitting process.
• The identification of a new area (“La Pista”) approximately 1300m southwest of the Company’s La Fortuna Main Zone resource that contains significant near surface disseminated gold/silver mineralization with “heap leach style” intervals of up to 50m in width. Rock sampling surrounding the new target zone has returned assays up to 8 g/t Au and 30 g/t Ag over a mineralized area of approximately 500m x 300m. Plans were completed to include testing of the new area in addition to other known areas of historical mining as part of the Company’s Fortuna exploration plans for 2019.
Production and Economic Highlights from La Fortuna PEA
The Company has filed on SEDAR the independent Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) titled “NI 43-101 Technical Report, Mineral Resource Update and Preliminary Economic Assessment of the LaFortuna Gold Project, Durango State, Mexico”.
The PEA results were previously disclosed in the Company’s news release dated August 16th, 2018 and prepared by CSA Global Geosciences Canada Ltd (CSA Global) of Toronto, Canada in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”).
The report, which is effective as of July 13th, 2018 can be found under Minera’s profile at www.sedar.com and on the company website.
SOURCE: NEWSFILE CORP.
DATE: DECEMBER 20, 2018
