Summary
- Ownership 100%, 6,374 hectares
- Located 40 km to commercial port of Puerto Bolivar
- Power to camp from national grid
- Sparsely populated area, constructive ongoing relations with local community
- Mineral Reserves & Resources Estimate updated in April 2023
- Indicated mineral resource increased to 16.8 Moz Au from 10.4 Moz
- Contained ounces of gold in mine plan increased to 11.6 Moz
- Mineral resource expansion makes Cangrejos 26th largest primary gold asset globally
- The project NPV(5%) was US$2.2B at $1,650/oz gold and $3.75/lb copper
- Click here for a full summary of the economic details
Location & Access
The Cangrejos project is located in El Oro province, SW Ecuador, 30 km SE of the provincial capital of Machala and the Pan American Highway and 40 km from the deep water commercial port of Puerto Bolivar. Access to the property is via paved and 8 km of gravel roads. The company has a field camp and core facility located on the property.
Region
Lumina’s Cangrejos project is located in the Andean foothills of El Oro province, in southwestern Ecuador. El Oro province has a long established history of mining, which is a way of life in many areas.
In 1994 Lumina (formerly Odin Mining) identified the Cangrejos area as the source of the Biron alluvial gold deposit which yielded 69,000 ounces of gold. A joint venture was formed with Newmont and during the period 1994 to 2001 geophysical and geochemical surveys were completed and anomalies were tested by diamond drilling. The Cangrejos zone was discovered by hole CC-99-14 which intersected 1.57 g/t Au over 192m.
Mineralization
Gold +/- copper mineralization in southern Ecuador is associated with:
- granitic intrusions of various ages
- Deposits are low grade, bulk tonnage Cu-Au porphyries or higher grade epithermal Au veins
At Cangrejos, porphyry style Au-Cu mineralization is associated with a sequence of intercalated porphyritic dioritic intrusions and hydrothermal breccias. Better Au grades correlate with potassic alteration and chalcopyrite-bornite occurring as fine disseminations and in quartz veins. This northeast trending zone was discovered by Newmont in 1999 and tested by 3 Odin drill holes in 2011.
Qualified Person
Leo Hathaway, P.Geo, a “qualified person” within the definition of that term in NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained on this page.
