The Pinos mining district dates back to the XVII century. It was one of two bonanza gold districts discovered by the Spanish. Towards the end of the XIX centrury, the Cornish miners revived the district and continued mining throughout the Dorada era. Zacatecana Mining Company and Pachuca Mining Company operated the district between 1920 and 1940 where they mined more than 500,000 tonnes of mineral.
Pinos, is located in Zacatecas, the second largest gold producing district in the country after Sonora. Candelaria Mining has defined an economic resource and received final approval for all permits necessary to begin construction of a 200 tpd mining operation with a path to ramp up to 400 tpd within 2 years of production.
Candelaria owns approximatley 3,800 hectares of Pinos mining concesions consisting of roughly 17km worth of veins containing Gold and Silver. The veins have been mined historically to a depth of only 180 meters, due to reaching the wáter table, but mineralization has been shown to continue at depth.
A preliminary economic assessment was completed in September of 2018 (see Candelaria News Release dated September 13, 2018) modeling a 200 tpd ramping to 400 tpd operation. The Company continues to optimize mining methods, the crushing circuit and grinding alternatives.
Production | Estimated 12,700 oz gold equivalents per year starting 4Q 2019 |
Costs | Capex est. US$13.5 million, Total cash costs $666 per AuEq oz (using 73.5:1 gold equivalent ounce ratio) |
Location | 140 km southeast of Zacatecas City |
Access | Asphalt paved road directly to project entrance |
Property | 3,816 hectares; 29 concessions |
Infrastructure | On power grid, readily available water and labour in Zacatecas |
Mine | Initial 200 tpd underground ramping up to 400 tpd, cut-and-fill mining methods |
Plant | Initial 200 tpd capacity conventional cyanide using merrill crowe |
District | Large, multi-vein gold & silver-rich historic district 7 km long by 5 km wide |
Resources | Low sulfidation epithermal Deposit. Measured and Indicated of 25,029 oz Au and 496,637 oz Ag; Inferred Resources by 60,671 oz Au and 811,082 oz Ag |
Widths | 1-4 m, True Vein Width Average 1.5 m |
Grades | Measured grades (of Candelaria Dupms yielded 1.6 g/t Au; 82.99 g/t Ag; Indicated grades of 3.0 g/t Au; 59.1 g/t Ag; Inferred grades of 3.6 g/t Au; 47.7 g/t Ag (The grades ared diluted, using a 10% Mine Dilution Factor) |
Recoveries | Estimated recoveries >90% gold and >80% silver. |
PEA | Robust economic returns at US$1250 per oz gold and US$17 per oz silver, 25% after tax IRR |
Potential | 9 untested vein targets at the Pinos property related to historical Au bonanza and an extensive Au anomaly of stockwork and dissemination hosted in Quartz-Eye Rhyolithic Porphyry |