{"id":1160987,"date":"2020-01-21T06:01:17","date_gmt":"2020-01-21T12:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1011811"},"modified":"2020-01-21T06:01:17","modified_gmt":"2020-01-21T12:01:17","slug":"gran-colombias-marmato-project-to-become-stand-alone-company-in-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1160987","title":{"rendered":"Gran Colombia\u2019s Marmato project to become stand-alone company in February"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gran Colombia Gold (TSX:GCM)\u00a0expects to complete in February <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/gran-colombia-to-spin-off-marmato-gold-project\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">the spin off its Marmato project<\/a>, located in the country\u2019s department of Caldas, into a separate listed company, executive chairman Serafino Iacono said at a trade conference in Vancouver, Canada.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Canadian miner, which will retain a major stake in the<br \/>\nnew listed company, said the move should help generate the funding required for<br \/>\nongoing exploration, development of an underground mine and the expansion of<br \/>\noperations.<\/p>\n<p>Caldas Gold, the new miner\u2019s name, will initially have the<br \/>\nsame executive team as Gran Colombia, but the project team will be different.<\/p>\n<p>Planned work at Marmato includes the construction of a new<br \/>\nprocessing plant and additional tailings storage facilities to support an<br \/>\nincreased level of production.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the proposed mine plan, the company will look to<br \/>\noptimize mining activities in the upper existing mine, which produces<br \/>\n24,000-to-26,000 ounces a year of gold. It will also aim at increasing<br \/>\nproduction and reducing cash costs.<\/p>\n<p>The Toronto-based miner plans to concurrently begin<br \/>\ndevelopment of the Deeps mineralization underneath the current mine for a<br \/>\nmodern, mechanized mining operation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Gran Colombia acquired Marmato, in the heart of the Middle<br \/>\nCauca gold district, in 2011, through a merger with Medoro Resources.<\/p>\n<p>The underground gold mine is expected to have a minimum<br \/>\n12-year productive life, generating over 1.5 million ounces of the precious<br \/>\nmetal during that time.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Rocky road<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In the last decade, the project has been plagued by<br \/>\ncontroversy. Residents of the 500 year-old Marmato town, mostly opposed the<br \/>\nminer\u2019s intention of flattening a mountain to create an open pit. That is no<br \/>\nlonger an issue, as Gran Colombia has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/colombia-gold-switch-marmato-project-open-pit-underground\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">opted for underground mining at Marmato<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The property has also been unlawfully occupied. The first<br \/>\ngroup of illegal miners took over the area in 2016, blocking roads<br \/>\nand&nbsp;costing Gran Colombia $2 million in daily losses.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, the miner&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mining.com\/gran-colombia-gold-goes-after-the-south-american-nation-in-700-million-lawsuit\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed a $700 million lawsuit against Colombia<\/a>,&nbsp;under<br \/>\nthe Colombian-Canadian free trade agreement, after the government ordered the<br \/>\ncompany&nbsp;to cease operations at the El Burro site in Marmato, requesting<br \/>\nfurther consultation with locals.<\/p>\n<p>The asset is located in a region that has been exploited<br \/>\nsince pre-Colonial times by the Quimbaya people. The Spanish colonists assumed<br \/>\ncontrol of the zone\u2019s mines in 1527 and the area has been in almost continuous<br \/>\nproduction ever since.<\/p>\n<p>Marmato\u2019s known riches were key to support the cause of<br \/>\nSimon Bolivar, a revolutionary leader who liberated much of South America from<br \/>\nSpanish rule. According to historians, Bolivar used the mines as collateral<br \/>\nwith British banks to secure funding for a war of independence against Spain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Caldas Gold, the new miner&rsquo;s name, will initially have the same executive team as the parent company, but the project team will be different.<\/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":[2849,369],"tags":[43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160987"}],"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=1160987"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1161106,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160987\/revisions\/1161106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1160987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1160987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1160987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}