Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural resources notified Minera Alamos this week of the successful completion of the technical review phase of the company’s application to change the land use at its Santana gold project.
The completion of the review would allow the miner to construct mining and processing facilities in the project area, located in the northwestern Sonora state.
According to Minera Alamos, once the change of land use payments is submitted, the secretariat will be in a position to issue the formal approval documentation for Santana.
“The receipt of this notification represents another major milestone for the company. Despite the anticipated delays related to the changes in the Mexican government in 2018, this notice was received approximately one year following our permitting application for commercial production at Santana,” Darren Koningen, CEO of Minera Alamos, said in a media statement.
The new permit would also open the road for Alamos to initiate applications for other state/local permits, such as those related to water and explosive use, which are required in advance of any commercial mine production.
The 8,500-hectare Santana project is a low-CAPEX, open-pit, heap-leach development project with test mining and processing recently completed.
