Granada prepares for extraction of 500-tonne bulk sample near former open pit

Granada Gold Mine (TSXV: GGM) has completed stripping of overburden and outcrop cleaning on mining lease BM 813 as part of its ongoing work to assess the grade on the structure east of former open pit #1, which was mined at a grade of 3.5 to 5.0 g/t gold.

Granada’s namesake gold project is located in an established mining district 5 km south of Rouyn-Noranda and adjacent to the Cadillac Break in Quebec. It comprises 14.73 sq. km. of land in a combination of mining leases and claims.

Based on high-grade drill results, both downdip within the structure and across the structure, the company has outlined the zone for the recovery of a 500-tonne bulk sample of mineralized material on the mining lease.

This work, according to Granada, should enable extraction and sampling of the mineralized structures which links to the structure on the mining lease BM 852, where a previous bulk sample was taken 250 metres to the east and returned a grade 4.33 g/t gold. The company is targeting 500,000 oz. of pit-constrained resource (presently 425,000 oz. of gold measured and indicated) with an average open pit grade of 2 g/t gold.

The just-completed stripping of the area is now free of overburden. The final cleaning of the surface with a smaller excavator is also now completed. A geological team has been mobilized to conduct detailed surface mapping and identify the area for bulk sample.

“The company is working on multiple fronts to enable development of the Granada gold mine, which was a former high-grade underground and open pit mine operation. Historically, the property has had two operating mills on the property and we may consider the building of an on-site mill for processing the mineralized material,” Granada’s CEO Frank Basa said a media release.

The property includes the former Granada underground mine that produced more than 50,000 oz. of gold at 10 g/t in the 1930s from two shafts before a fire destroyed the surface buildings. In the 1990s, Granada Resources extracted a bulk sample of 87,311 tonnes grading 5.17 g/t gold from pit #1. It also extracted a bulk sample of 22,095 tonnes grading 3.46 g/t gold from pit #2.

Granada then acquired then property in 2006 with the view of reviving the deposit to the first stage of production. It undertook a surface bulk sample and recovered 1,431 oz. of fine gold from the mineralized zone within the No. 2 vein structure.

Drilling has been conducted since 2009 on unexplored areas near the past-producing pit with the aim of expanding the resource and demonstrating its open pit and underground potential. To date, only about 20% of the property has been explored.