NICARAGUA - GLENCAIRN GOLD of Toronto has taken an option on a mineral processing plant for its Libertad open pit and heap leach operation 110 km east of Managua. The name of the plant vendor in northern Nevada has not yet been disclosed.
Glencairn suspended operations at Libertad in Q1 of 2007 following metallurgical tests that showed the average 40% gold recovery from heap leaching could be increased to more than 90% with conventional milling.
The purchase of the milling facilities will include the full plant with a SAG mill, a ball mill, a vertical mill, tailings pumps, a thickener system, leach and CIP tanks, as well as all the structural steel to house the Libertad mill. Glencairn plans to dismantle the mill and reassemble it on the Libertad site.
The Libertad mine was a 5,000-t/d heap leach operation. The mine has been operating since mid-1997, except for a brief suspension in 2000-01. It produced 461,300 oz of gold prior to Glencairns acquisition in July 2006. Gold sales from the Libertad mine were an estimated 12,146 oz in the first quarter of 2007.
A full feasibility study for expansion and conventional milling is being done by AMEC. It will include updated estimates of the resources and reserves by SCOTT WILSON RPA, an independent geological consultant.
Complete information about Libertad and Glencairns other gold mines is available at www.GlencairnGold.com.
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