EIA Permit Application Submitted

RNS Number : 4689H

Condor Gold PLC

01 December 2015

 

Condor Gold plc 7th Floor 39 St. James's Street London SW1A 1JD Telephone [phone] Fax: [phone]

1 December 2015

Condor Gold plc

(''Condor'' or "the Company")

 Application submitted for an Environmental Permit for 100,000 oz p.a. Gold Mine at La India Project.

Condor (AIM:CNR), is pleased to announce that it has completed an Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA") and has formally submitted an application for an Environmental Permit ("Environmental Permit") to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in Nicaragua ("MARENA") for the construction and operation of an open pit mine, a CIL processing plant and associated infrastructure at La India Project, Nicaragua. The EIA is a 700 page document which considers the environmental and social impacts of gold production from the La India Open Pit mine plan detailed in the NI 43-101 compliant Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") released in December 2014 and the recent Whittle Enterprise Optimisation study as announced on 20 October 2015 ("Whittle Optimisation"). The EIA draws on data from 15 different environmental and social baseline studies, some of which commenced in 2013. In addition to describing the potential impacts of a future commercial mine on the environment, the EIA also contains detailed environmental management plans and social management plans to monitor and control any such impacts.

The EIA follows the Terms of Reference issued by MARENA in May 2015 and is the principal document that will be assessed by MARENA in consideration of awarding the Environmental Permit. The Environmental Permit is the key permit for mining in Nicaragua. Many other permits, such as a water management permit, are conditional upon the grant of an Environmental Permit.

The EIA describes a processing plant that will have a capacity of between 2,200 tonnes per day ("tpd") (0.8million tonnes per annum ("tpa")) and 2,800tpd (1.0mtpa). During the first 5 years of production, using the 2,200tpd processing plant the PFS detailed 76,000 oz gold p.a. and the Whittle Optimisation 91,000 oz gold p.a. based on Indicated Ounces only. The Whittle Optimisation estimates 101,000 oz gold production p.a. once the Inferred Material is included using a 2,800tpd processing plant. The Whittle Optimisation increased contained gold within La India Open pit shell by 30% to 955,000 oz gold by pushing the pit deeper, increasing annual production by 20%, while keeping all in sustaining cash costs under US$700 per oz gold. The EIA includes processing of an additional 10,000 oz of gold p.a. from artisanal miners through the main processing plant.

Mark Child CEO comments:

"Condor Gold's completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment and application for an Environmental Permit was a key objective for us in 2015 and is a major step towards our plan of fully permitting a gold mine initially producing circa 100,000 oz gold p.a. from a single pit. The two feeder pits and underground production will be permitted at a later stage and could increase annual gold production by over 50%. Both the Ministry and Energy and Mines and Pro-Nicaragua, the inward investment Agency, have been steadfast in their support of re-opening Mina La India, which closed in 1956. It will be a major boost to the local and national economy and large foreign direct investment from the U.K. Nicaragua has 3 large commercial mines, which produced a combined total of circa 250,000 oz gold in 2014; gold is Nicaragua's third largest export. Permitting and production from Mina La India could boost the third largest export by 40%".

Competent Person's Declaration 

Information in this announcement that relates to the project evaluation, Preliminary Feasibility Study, engineering and mine planning is based on information compiled and/or reviewed by Gerald David Crawford, the Chief Technical Officer, who is a Registered Professional Engineer in the states of Colorado and Nevada and member of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, and a mining engineer with 38 years of experience in the design and evaluation of precious and base metal mineral resources. Mr. Crawford has worked for Condor Gold plc for the past 2 years and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the mining method and type of deposit under consideration, and to the type of activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person as defined under Canadian NI 43-101. Mr. Crawford consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on their information in the form and context in which it appears and confirms that this information is accurate and not false or misleading.

 - Ends -

For further information please visit www.condorgold.com or contact:

Condor Gold plc	Mark Child, Executive Chairman and CEO [phone]	Luc English, Country Manager Nicaragua [phone]
Beaumont Cornish Limited Numis Securities Limited	Roland Cornish and James Biddle [phone] John Prior and James Black [phone]
Farm Street Media	Simon Robinson [phone]

About Condor Gold plc:

Condor Gold plc was admitted to AIM on 31^st May 2006. The Company is a gold exploration and development company with a focus on Central America.

Condor completed a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) and two Preliminary Economic Assessments (PEA) on La India Project in Nicaragua in December 2014. The PFS details an open pit gold mineral reserve of 6.9M tonnes at 3.0g/t gold for 675,000 oz gold producing 80,000 oz gold p.a. for 7 years. The PEA for the open pit only scenario details 100,000 oz gold production p.a. for 8 years whereas the PEA for a combination of open pit and underground details 140,000 oz gold production p.a. for 8 years. La India Project contains a total attributable mineral resource of 18.4Mt at 3.9g/t for 2.33M oz gold and 2.68M oz silver at 6.2g/t to the CIM Code.

In El Salvador, Condor has an attributable 1,004,000 oz gold equivalent at 2.6g/t JORC compliant resource. The resource calculations are compiled by independent geologists SRK Consulting (UK) Limited for Nicaragua and Ravensgate and Geosure for El Salvador.

Disclaimer

Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

Beaumont Cornish Limited, which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority, is acting exclusively as Rule 3 adviser to Condor Gold plc and no one else in connection with the Strategic Review (leading to an Offer Period) (the "Strategic Review") and will not be responsible to anyone other than Condor Gold plc for providing the protections afforded to clients of Beaumont Cornish Limited nor for providing advice in relation to the Strategic Review. Neither Beaumont Cornish Limited nor any of its affiliates owes or accepts any duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is not a client of Beaumont Cornish Limited in connection with this Announcement, any statement contained herein, the Strategic Review or otherwise.

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

A copy of this announcement will be posted to Shareholders and made available, subject to certain restrictions relating to persons resident in restricted jurisdictions, on Condor Gold's website (www.condorgold.com), under the "Investor Relations" section no later than 12 noon on 21 October 2015.

 

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