With the month of November already closed, we can say that we have the two active mining projects with the beneficiation plants in operation, one of them in testing.
La Maria Mining Project
At La María we have accumulated 156 tonnes of processed material since 16 October, when it was put into operation.
The plant, as you know, started working with barren material and we have been introducing rich material as the tests gave positive results.
This material will be sent to smelting in the first half of December giving the first economic results before the end of the year.
Contrary to what we originally thought, the results will not be given by monthly “washes” but by the number of “melts”.
The plant does not stop working except for scheduled maintenance, so setting a monthly calculation cycle would be inappropriate.
As time goes by, the process will become more technical and a control system will be installed for the traceability of the material using blockchain technology.
As for the internal development of the project, we already have the warehouse ready, we have continued to make progress on the tailings dam to be able to remove the sludge, we have the exterior and structure of the medical dispensary and offices ready, with the interiors still to be completed.
Vereda Guayaquil Mining Project
At the Vereda Guayaquil project, we have already started the first detonations inside the mine, which will result in a continuous and massive supply of material for processing.
The plant has been delivered at the end of November so we expect to start having results by December.
As you know in Guayaquil we have a considerable amount of material in storage for processing from the moment the plant engineer gives the go ahead to start operations, this ensures that the plant will run non-stop except for maintenance breaks.
With the laboratory up and running and the mass spectrometer active, we have been able to analyse what we had considered to be some of the barren material with results ranging from 0.3 to 4.5 grams per tonne, which means that even the barren material is rich in ore.
We will continue to report on further developments through our social media channels and our monthly newsletter.