El Salvador president proposes bill to overturn metals mining ban
In 2017, El Salvador became the first country in the world to ban forms of metals mining.
Denver-based Midway Gold is eyeing an additional underground resource at its Midway project in Nye County, Nevada.
The company said on Friday that an NI 43101- compliant technical report updates a 2005 resource estimate that envisioned an open-pit mine. That estimate, prepared by Mine Development Associates, calculated an inferred low-grade resource of 5.5 million short tons containing 215,500 ounces of gold, with an average grade of 0.039 oz/ton.
The 2005 estimate is still valid, but Midway says underground mining may be the preferred method, considering local sensitivities regarding groundwater and local archaeology. The company signed a cooperation agreement in February with the nearby town of Tonopah, Nevada, that allows for mining exploration activities in exchange for the continued provision of safe drinking water for the community.
The NI 4301 evaluated a number of vein-like structures, and delineated an underground resource of 114 short tons containing 34,394 ounces of gold, graded at 0.3017 oz/ton.
Going forward, the company plans to act on the following recommendations:
• Twin a select number of reverse circulation drill holes in the various mineralized zones by diamond drill core to compare methodologies and resulting assay results.
• Compile, analyze and document QA/QC data generated by Midway and Chemex for all assays completed since 2004.
• As part of an ongoing QA/QC program with drill samples, submit blank samples at the rate of 2%.
• Compile, analyze and document the metallic screen assay results as compared with the original fire assays and/or with duplicate analyses run on the same samples.
• Conduct future definition drilling with diamond drill core and restrict reverse circulation drilling to exploration activities.
