Production start from the project will mark the transition of the company from precious metals explorer to gold producer
Rodeo is a 1,866-hectare gold project that is completely owned by Golden Minerals. (Credit: Erik Stein from Pixabay)
Golden Minerals, a precious metals exploration and development company, has obtained final environmental permits for the Rodeo gold-silver project in Mexico, US.
Located nearly 115km by road from the company’s Velardeña Properties in Durango State, Mexico, Rodeo is a 1,866-hectare gold project that is completely owned by Golden Minerals.
The company aims to ship the mined material from Rodeo to Velardeña using a commercial trucking contractor, following which the material will be mined through its existing and newly vacated oxide plant.
The vacated oxide facility is an agitated leach plant estimated to handle nearly 450 tonnes of throughput per day from Rodeo.
It featured a Merrill Crowe circuit and a modern doré refinery, and a tailings facility was recently expanded. The facility is estimated to be sufficient for the tailings produced from Rodeo’s operations.
Golden Minerals on track to begin gold production in January 2021
The company said that it is now on track to commence the gold production in January next year. This will mark the transition of the company to gold producer from precious metals exploration company.
Golden Minerals president and CEO Warren Rehn said: “The receipt of the environmental permits for our Rodeo mine puts us on schedule to begin mining in January 2021.
“We expect to begin delivering gold-bearing material to our Velardeña mill early in January and begin processing immediately.”
The company has completed a 35-hole 1,400-meter drilling programme in August this year to further verify continuity of the high-grade core of the Rodeo deposit.
In April this year, Barrick Gold signed an earn-in agreement with Golden Minerals to acquire a 70% stake in its El Quevar silver project located in the Salta province of Argentina.