Heliostar plans for January restart of La Colorada mine in Mexico

Heliostar Metals (TSXV: HSTR) has set out plans to restart the La Colorada gold mine in Sonora, Mexico, with work being undertaken in preparation for crushing and stacking to begin in January 2025.La Colorada is currently producing gold through residual leaching after its previous operator stopped mining in late 2023, when it failed to complete the pre-strip project to expand the existing Creston Pit. Since acquiring the mine last month, Heliostar has been evaluating a potential restart using previously stockpiled material.The restart plan revolves around the Junkyard Stockpile, a historic waste rock storage facility named after mining equipment stored on the site. The stockpile is located approximately 800 metres southwest of the La Colorada crushing circuit, and contains material that was mined from the Gran Central Pit in the mid to late 1990s.Earlier this year, the company initiated an evaluation of the Junkyard Stockpile, consisting of drilling, resource modeling and metallurgical testing. The results of this program, along mineral expansion drilling at the Creston Pit, are to be incorporated in a technical report due in January.The planned restart would initially augment and then replace the current gold production from residual leaching at the mine, said Heliostar.Historic gold mineLa Colorada was once a high-grade underground mine that produced approximately 3 million oz. of gold. over a 38-year period up to its closure at the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1914. Modern mining began in the early 1990s, when Eldorado Gold developed a bulk tonnage heap leach operation from several open pits.In 2000, Eldorado sold the production to a private Mexican owner, who operated it until April 2002. Operations then restarted in 2012 under the ownership of Argonaut Gold, and since, it has produced over 485,000 oz. of gold and 1.68 million oz. of silver.The mine facilities include three open pits, a three-stage crushing plant with 12,000-tonne-per-day capacity, conveyors, multi-lift single-use leach pads, a carbon absorption circuit and a stripping and electro-winning circuit.Production driver“Recommencing mining operations at La Colorada is a key step for Heliostar to start 2025,” said CEO  Charles Funk. “The plan to recommence crushing and stacking, paused since September 2023, will drive the company’s guidance forecast next year.”Last month, following its acquisition of the La Colorada and San Agustin mines from Florida Canyon Gold, Heliostar announced a production guidance of 20,000-20,250 gold-equivalent ounces for the July-December period. A majority of the production would come from San Agustin, which also recently ceased mining activities due to permit constraints and is producing gold from existing leach pads.“A restart and the pending technical report for La Colorada has it strongly placed to drive Heliostar towards our goal of becoming a mid-tier gold producer,” added Funk.In addition, the company also submitted a permit application to expand the open pit at San Agustin that would allow mining to recommence in 2025.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com