Argentina tripled lithium carbonate production capacity in last two years
Argentina, the world's No. 4 lithium producer, has four projects in production.
Construction is 89% complete and commissioning has begun at Orla Mining’s (TSX: OLA; NYSE: ORLA) Camino Rojo gold heap leach project in Mexico. The first gold pour is scheduled for December 2021.
The company says construction remains on schedule, and that the first ore was fed to the crushing circuit in the third quarter. The crushing system, reclaim tunnel and associated conveyor are complete, as are the camp facilities.
The Merrill-Crowe facilities were 98% complete at the end of the quarter. Mining activities are ramping up according to plan. So far this year, Orla said about 757,000 tonnes of ore grading 0.86 g/t gold have been mined.
Activities in the fourth quarter will focus on commissioning the stacking equipment, applying cyanide to the leach pad, and commissioning the Merrill-Crow plant and the refinery.
Orla says it has spent $106.3 million out of the budgeted $134.1 million at Camino Rojo, located in Zacatecas state. The company had a cash balance of $50.7 million at the end of September.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
