JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed junior Oro Verde has resumed exploration control at the Topacio gold project, in Nicaragua, after gold major Newcrest Mining withdrew from the project.
Oro Verde stated on Friday that the partnership with Newcrest over the past two years had significantly advanced the project and that the company had many new targets to follow up.
Newcrest’s objective was to focus its seven drillholes on a previously undrilled target at Rebeca, but Oro Verde said it would refocus its exploration activities on the high-grade targets defined around the existing 340 000 oz gold resource at the main Topacio area, where recent trenching examples had delivered encouraging results.
“We have enjoyed advancing the regional knowledge of the Topacio project in partnership with Newcrest since November 2015, but as Newcrest concentrates on other Latin American investments, Oro Verde can resume its focus on expansion of the existing Topacio gold resource. Recent trenching and drilling of some of the many high-grade gold targets has already paid dividends with results up to 53.1 g/t of gold,” MD Trevor Woolfe said in a statement.