Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Calibre Mining (TSX: CXB) has been granted key environmental permits from the corresponding authorities in Nicaragua to develop and bring its new Volcan gold deposit into production.
“Approval of the Volcan permit demonstrates the value of our hub-and-spoke operating strategy as we achieve another significant milestone in Calibre’s efforts to organically grow gold production,” CEO Darren Hall commented in a press release.
The Volcan deposit is located approximately 5 km south of the company’s Libertad mill, which currently has over 1 million tonnes of surplus processing capacity, and therefore, benefits from satellite deposits within a 400 km radius.
The discovery at Volcan was made following Calibre’s drilling in 2021-2022 within its exploitation concessions covering 411 km2 of the Libertad district, which has produced about 2 million oz. of gold. The deposit represents a vein trend consistent with those in the district that were in production, most notably, Mahon.
In September 2023, Calibre delineated the first open-pit resource for the deposit, totalling 508,000 tonnes of indicated material averaging1.83 g/t for 30,000 oz. of gold, plus 1.79 million tonnes inferred at 2.28 g/t, yielding 131,000 oz. of gold.
“With an initial open pit resource averaging 2.0 g/t gold, 2023 drilling confirms that the deposit can host higher-grade, near-surface gold mineralization,” Hall added.
With the receipt of its environmental permit, combined with Volcan’s proximity to the Libertad mill, Calibre expects the deposit to contribute to its production profile in the second half of this year.
Shares in Calibre Mining had a gain of 0.2% by 11:35 a.m. ET on the latest development, giving the gold miner a market capitalization of C$1.62 billion.
