{"id":1110111,"date":"2019-04-10T11:02:10","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T11:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=981229"},"modified":"2019-04-10T11:02:10","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T11:02:10","slug":"solgold-scores-again-finds-greater-resource-potential-at-ecuador-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1110111","title":{"rendered":"SolGold scores again, finds greater resource potential at Ecuador project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ecuador-focused miner SolGold (LON, TSX:SOLG) said drilling at its Cascabel copper-gold project in the country\u2019s north, one of the few new red-metal bearing ones expected to come online in the near future, had revealed previously unknown mineralization<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Together with high-grade find, being over 1.5% copper equivalent, the company has also detected mineralization within the inferred resource area at the Alpala resource, as well as some medium grade mineralization of between 0.7% copper equivalent and the high-grade threshold of 1.5%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe drilling campaign continues to deliver to our expectations with these latest results revealing previously unknown mineralisation and providing a clear indication of the growth potential that exists through the extension of the Alpala resource,\u201d chief executive Nick Mather said in the statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As part of its ongoing exploration work at the asset, the Australian miner has so far completed 189,984 metres of drilling on Alpala, which includes Alpala Northwest, Alpala Western Limb, Alpala South and Trivinio.<\/p>\n

The previously unknown source intrusion\u00a0unveiled thanks to those activities was found at the Alpala Northwest prospect, and proves Cascabel has more potential than previously thought for a further significant resource extension, the company said.<\/p>\n

SolGold\u2019s flagship asset has piqued the interest of some major miners, including BHP (ASX, NYSE:BHP). The world\u2019s largest mining company acquired last year\u00a0a 6.1% stake in SolGold<\/a>, increasing this way its exposure to copper\u00a0as Cascabel is believed to have the potential to become one of the largest copper-gold assets ever discovered.<\/p>\n

The move pushed Australia\u2019s largest gold producer, Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM), to\u00a0increase its holding in the company<\/a>, consolidating its position as SolGold\u2019s top shareholder.<\/p>\n

Ecuador has gained ground as a mining investment destination in the past two years, thanks to a revised regulatory framework and a\u00a0major investor engagement campaign<\/a>\u00a0that attracted around 420 applications for concessions in less than a year.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s Lundin Gold (TSX:LUG) is set to begin operations at its\u00a0Fruta del Norte gold mine at the end of the year<\/a>, and other multinational mining companies are looking at Ecuador with interest. Dundee Precious Metals will begin investing in the Andean nation through junior miners already operating there, while Barrick Gold\u2019s chief executive Mark Bristow is said to have visited the country several times.<\/p>\n

Clouds on the horizon<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Existing and future projects, however, risk delays and potential halts due to red tape and growing local opposition to the extraction of the country\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n

According to the\u00a0latest report by\u00a0Fitch Solutions Macro Research<\/a>, the ongoing expansion of mining exploration in the South American country is raising the risk of tensions between companies and the local population.<\/p>\n

In two landmark cases last year, Ecuadorian courts sided with rural and indigenous communities who argued the national government had failed to inform them it was setting aside parts of their territories for mineral exploitation. That,\u00a0Fitch\u00a0notes, is a right protected by the 2008 Constitution.<\/p>\n

Last month, Gir\u00f3n \u2014 in the province of Azuay \u2014, voted against mining activities in a popular referendum held alongside a regional election. The move, says\u00a0Eileen Gavin, Senior Latin America analyst at global risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft<\/a>, could further jeopardize INV Metals\u2019 (TSX-V: INV) Loma Larga gold, silver and copper project in the region. The Canadian miner has already announced would relocate the proposed processing and tailings facilities<\/a> outside of Gir\u00f3n canton.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe newly-elected prefect of Azuay, Yaku P\u00e9rez\u00a0Guartambel, a lawyer who\u00a0calls himself an \u2018indigenous revolutionary\u2019 and took 29% of the vote (in a crowded field of 10), now has a mandate to challenge the mining sector,\u201d Gavin writes. \u201cHe has declared that his\u00a0\u2018first, second and third priorities\u2019 are protecting Azuay\u2019s water sources by opposing mining, adding that\u00a0he would propose a provincial-wide consultation on mining in Azuay (which has 15 cantons in all).\u201d<\/p>\n

As mining projects face headwinds from rising tensions, investors’ courage will be tested, the analysts conclude, which could thwart Ecuador\u2019s plan to attract $3.7 billion in mining investments in the next two years, up from $270 million in 2018.<\/p>\n

The government is in the final days of completing a new policy that will mirror that of countries with greater mining experience, such as Chile and Peru, in order to streamline procedures and increase Ecuador\u2019s competitiveness.<\/p>\n

The post SolGold scores again, finds greater resource potential at Ecuador project<\/a> appeared first on MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The miner has found further mineralization at its Cascabel copper-gold project as it continues exploration work.<\/p>\n

The post SolGold scores again, finds greater resource potential at Ecuador project<\/a> appeared first on MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[404,369,685,440],"tags":[15,25,33,39,48,71,102],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110111"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1110111"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1110332,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110111\/revisions\/1110332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1110111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1110111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1110111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}