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Luca Mining (TSXV: LUCA) is welcoming its second producing asset in Mexico after completing construction of the new Tahuehueto gold mine located in Durango state. Commercial production is scheduled for September, the company said in Thursday’s press release.
Tahuehueto is a fully permitted underground mining operation with a nameplate processing capacity of 1,000 tonnes per day. To date, about $30 million has been invested between exploration, prefeasibility study (PFS) and mine development.
The mine was completed within budget and has been successfully producing on a pre-production basis for several months, Luca stated, adding that processing rates will now start to ramp up to commercial levels of approximately 800 tonnes per day.
“Tahuehueto is set to become the second cornerstone asset at Luca. We are ultimately targeting at least 50,000 oz. gold-equivalent annual production from this mine,” Luca Mining CEO Dan Barnholden commented on the milestone.
“Processing rates are currently averaging 450 tonnes per day, and we expect to steadily increase over the coming weeks to reach commercial production in September 2024,” he said.
While it ramps up the mine’s production capacity, the company will also actively continue its underground development efforts. Resource drilling from underground is expected to commence in the coming weeks, it said.
Tahuehueto covers a large property (121 sq. km.) that hosts an extensive epithermal gold vein system with less than 10% of the prospective ground explored so far. It lies in a historic mining region that hosted the famous San Dimas gold mine, which has a similar style of mineralization and has produced over 11 million oz. to date.
Mineral reserves at the Tahuehueto deposit are estimated to total 3.6 million tonnes at grades of 2.55 grams per tonne gold and 50.1 g/t silver, for 294,000 oz. of gold and 5.8 million oz. of silver. A 2022 PFS outlined an 11-year mine averaging annual production of approximately 26,000 oz. of gold and 454,000 oz. of silver.
In addition to Tahuehueto, Luca owns the Campo Morado mine in Guerrero state, which produces copper-zinc-lead concentrates with precious metals credits. The operation is currently undergoing an optimization program to improve its recovery and grades.
In 2024, the company expects to produce between 60,000 to 70,000 oz. of gold equivalent, including 43,000-50,000 oz. from Campo Morado and 17,000-20,000 oz. from the new Tahuehueto mine.
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