Toachi nears PEA at La Plata copper-gold project in Ecuador

Toachi Mining (TSXV: TIM) is trenching its Guatuza copper-gold target at its La Plata volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) project in Ecuador. It plans to drill Guataza in the second half of the year, beginning with 5,000 metres exploring exposed VMS slabs to determine how far they extend underground. Before that though, the company will finish a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on La Plata it aims to release by the end of April 2019. It has completed metallurgy demonstrating the project’s La Mina North and South deposits could produce copper-lead and zinc concentrates, with most of the gold going into the copper-lead concentrate. “All this is the baseline for the PEA, because if your metallurgy doesn’t work the rest of the PEA is kind of hard to justify,” Toachi president and CEO Alain Bureau says in an interview with The Northern Miner. “You want to set the story straight with the communities and with the government, and the PEA does that.” Drilling by Toachi in 2017 led to a resource estimate the company tabled in September of that year. Continue reading at The Northern Miner.