The Alacran deposit is part of the San Matias development. The project also hosts three satellite deposits (Montiel West, Montiel East and Costa Azul).
Taken together, the four deposits have an indicated resource of 114.3 million tonnes grading 0.45% copper, 0.26 g/t gold and 2.42 g/t silver (0.64% copper-equivalent). The inferred resource is 4.8 million tonnes grading 0.26% copper, 0.2 g/t gold and 1.21 g/t silver (0.39% copper-equivalent).
According to the 2019 preliminary economic assessment, an open pit mining plan with conventional, drill, blast, shovel loader, and truck haulage is planned. The concentrator design has a primary crusher, SABC circuit, rougher flotation, two stages of cleaners and a scavenger circuit plus a pyrite flotation circuit.
Tailings will be stored in the Concepcion Creek Valley to the west of the Alacran pit under a permanent water cover. Initial capital costs for an 8,000-t/d operation would be C$161 million.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
