Green light for gold and silver mine project in Patagonia Santa Cruz province

Thursday, October 18th 2012 - 16:00 UTC

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Lima-based IRL seems to have the right focus in its Latam investments

Gold miner Minera IRL Ltd reports it has secured government permits to build its Don Nicolas pit mine in Argentine Patagonia and is now seeking financing to get the 57 million dollars project up and running next year, the company said on Wednesday.

Peru, Lima-based IRL said its environmental impact study was approved by provincial officials in just five months, a short timeframe in Argentina, where investors have complained about government red tape.

The company said authorities in Patagonia’s Santa Cruz province also granted construction and development permits for Don Nicolas. The mine will have an initial life of 3.6 years and should produce an average of 52,400 ounces of gold and 56,000 ounces of silver per year.

Don Nicolas will become IRL second working mine when operations get under way at the end of 2013. IRL Corihuarmi mine in central Peru produced 33,255 ounces of gold in 2011, and the company has said it expects its Ollachea project in southern Peru to start production in 2015 and yield 1.1 million ounces of gold over 10 years.

The company has said its new mines could turn it into a mid-tier gold producer, with overall annual output of 150,000 to 200,000 ounces a year.

IRL made waves in the industry earlier this year when it decided to give a small Peruvian community a 5% stake in its Ollachea mine, a strategy designed to avoid the kind of disputes over natural resources that are rife in Peru and its fast-growing economy.

Categories: Economy, Argentina.

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Simon68
That should improve the chances of Santa Cruz provincial government paying it's civil servants.

No wonder the authorization was hurried through!!!!!!!!
Oct 18th, 2012 - 04:09 pm 0
Pirat-Hunter
Will Argentina ever change their monetary currency from paper money to gold coins, it will beat inflation by a mile and boost international investments. All investors around the world love to shelter their capital in gold during bad economies times.
We hope the gold doesn't fly out of the country as fast as the dollar does and if it did we hope it pays Argentina royalties before it leaves the country.
http://m.youtube.com/?reload=3&rdm=mc3dk82gc#/watch?feature=plpp&v=J3SU9qUAkSg
http://m.youtube.com/?reload=3&rdm=mc3dk82gc#/watch?feature=plpp&v=J3SU9qUAkSg
Oct 18th, 2012 - 06:37 pm 0
ChrisR
Assuming the ounces stated are Troy (the internationally recognised BRITISH weight used in precious metal transactions) the gross yield to the closure of the first winning at the current gold price will be approximately USD 289 million in gold and USD 6.7 million in silver, so say USD 295 million. LESS the operational and restitutional costs and of course taxes and pocket money for TMBOA.

If the stated weights are pharmaceutical (chemists weight) the gross will be reduced by 8.36% in each case, say USD 292.5 million.

The gross profits might sound a lot of money but given the risks of AG thieving the entire company when it is operational and hitting its target yields (and that is NOT guaranteed) it is not really a very attractive proposition for the individual investor.
Oct 18th, 2012 - 10:00 pm 0

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