RE: PR2 Mar 2019 11:50
Once it has its drill permits approved, the company will focus on exploring Porvenir, as well as its Blanca, La Hueca and Rio Amarillo regional targets. The company says the scale of its project and prospective ground demonstrate why it has the opportunity to become an Ecuadorean focussed mining major, without resorting to dilutive and erosive joint ventures.
“We’ve had 12 drill rigs in operation over the past year and 86 geologists on the ground – half of those at Alpala,” SolGold CEO Nick Mather says. “I don’t think many majors can match that exploration effort.”
He notes that the company has made discoveries at Alpala for just US$1.47 per oz. gold equivalent, or 34 cents per lb. copper equivalent.
“All day, every day, the best way to add value for shareholders is to explore, and we’re experts at that by any measure,” Mather says.
SolGold is active in the most under-explored section of Ecuador. It has strong support from the country’s government, which is intent on responsibly developing its mining industry. As Mather says, the upside for both Ecuador and SolGold shareholders is immense. As a result, the company remains focussed on continuing to earn, and maintain, Ecuador’s endorsement.
“At every level, community involvement is important,” Mather says. “Locally, for training, employment, commercial patronage and social security assistance; regionally, for infrastructure, permitting and planning; and federally, to deal with industrial development permitting and fiscal planning. Our approach is to integrate SolGold’s aims with Ecuador’s.”
Mather goes on to compare Ecuador with Australia’s famed Pilbara iron ore district, pointing out that miners will need to address increasing copper demand with entirely new, well-endowed deposits.
“SolGold’s new provincial Ecuador portfolio is the solution,” he says. “Since first stepping into Ecuador in 2012, we’ve seen Alpala as just the start of a long pipeline that will help transform Ecuador’s economy.
“The electrification of the world has seen a shift in demanded resources, with copper replacing iron ore at the top of the food chain. Ecuador is the new Pilbara.”
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