{"id":1176607,"date":"2020-04-07T08:45:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T13:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1019551"},"modified":"2020-04-07T08:45:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-07T13:45:36","slug":"solgolds-copper-project-in-ecuador-bigger-than-expected-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1176607","title":{"rendered":"SolGold\u2019s copper project in Ecuador bigger than expected"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SolGold\u2019s (LON, TSX:SOLG)&nbsp;confidence in its Cascabel copper-gold asset in Ecuador received a boost on Tuesday after a&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/ir.q4europe.com\/Tools\/newsArticleHTML.aspx?solutionID=3676&amp;customerKey=Solgold&amp;storyID=14659512\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">long-awaited third resource update for&nbsp;Alpala<\/a>, the project\u2019s main deposit, showed it\u2019s bigger than anticipated.<\/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 fresh report has added 1.6 million tonnes of copper, 2.5 million ounces of gold and 92.2 million ounces silver \u2014 a metal not previously estimated \u2014 to Alpala\u2019s measured and indicated mineral resources. <\/p>\n<p>The deposit\u2019s resource now stands at 2.66 billion tonnes at<br \/>\n0.53% copper-equivalent in the measured and indicated categories, and 544<br \/>\nmillion tonnes at 0.31% copper-equivalent in the inferred category.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Third resource update for Alpala has added 1.6 million tonnes of copper, 2.5 million ounces of gold and 92.2 million ounces silver to the deposit.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThis significantly increases our confidence that the economics identified in the preliminary economic assessment are achievable and are based on a bankable porphyry orebody,\u201d chief executive Nick Mather <a href=\"http:\/\/ir.q4europe.com\/Tools\/newsArticleHTML.aspx?solutionID=3676&amp;customerKey=Solgold&amp;storyID=14659512\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">said in the statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian miner has long said its project in Ecuador is<br \/>\none of the largest copper-gold porphyry systems ever discovered.<\/p>\n<p>Ecuador has attracted lately a flurry of interest from big<br \/>\nminers eager to increase their exposure to copper. The highly conductive metal<br \/>\nis in demand for use in renewable energy and electric vehicles, but big, new<br \/>\ndeposits are rare.<\/p>\n<p>Diversified majors particularly favour such large-scale, long-life projects as the one SolGold promises. BHP, for one, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/bhp-becomes-ecuador-focused-solgolds-largest-shareholder\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">upped its stake in the company<\/a> last year to 14.7% from 11.1%, becoming the Ecuador-focused miner\u2019s top shareholder.<\/p>\n<p>The country has been trying to move from an explorer hotspot to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/ecuador-moving-from-explorers-hotspot-to-copper-exporter-with-first-cargo\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">a mining exporter<\/a>. But its oil-led economy has been hit hard over the past few months. <\/p>\n<p>Ecuador is reeling from both the spread of covid-19 while also suffering from the collapse in oil prices in the wake of a dispute over production between Russia and Saudi Arabia. <\/p>\n<p>Prior to recent developments, the South American country expected to attract $3.7 billion in mining investments between 2019 and 2020, up significantly from the $270 million it received in 2018. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A long-awaited third resource update for Alpala has added 1.6 million tonnes of copper, 2.5 million ounces of gold and 92.2 million ounces silver to the deposit.<\/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":[2849,949,369],"tags":[43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176607"}],"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=1176607"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1176650,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176607\/revisions\/1176650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1176607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1176607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1176607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}