Minera IRL Granted Permit to Build $177M Peruvian Gold Mine

Jersey-listed precious metals mining, mine development and mineral exploration company Minera IRL has received permission from the Peruvian government to construct the $177 million Ollachea Gold Mine.  

The Peruvian Ministry of Mines and Energy granted the permit which presented the final obstacle after the approval of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in 2013.

The Ollachea orogenic gold deposit, located in southern Peru, was discovered by Minera IRL in late 2008 after acquiring the property from Rio Tinto in 2006. Since that time, the company has completed more than 81,000 metres of surface diamond drilling in 208 holes, resulting in the delineation of significant gold mineral resources and reserves at Ollachea.

Courtney Chamberlain, Executive Chairman of Minera IRL, said: “We are delighted to have received approval of the Construction Permit for Ollachea and are looking forward to commencing development as soon as project financing is arranged, which we expect to conclude during the third quarter of 2014.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Diego Benavides, President of Minera IRL, added: ““We wish to acknowledge the government authorities’ outstanding attention to rapidly facilitating the permitting process. We also thank the Community of Ollachea, our true partners in the project, for their unwavering support.”

The Ollachea Gold Mine has scheduled production of 930,000 ounces over an initial nine-year mine life at an average site cash operating cost of $507 per ounce of gold produced.

The up-front capital cost is estimated at $177 million (including IGV, which is recoverable) with a total life-of-mine capital cost estimate of $220.0 million.

More details on the Ollachea project here: http://www.minera-irl.com/en/projects/ollachea/summary