- Partner spending $3.5 million.
- Mill expansion nearing completion.
- Ore currently being mined.
The La Currita project is located about 400 km southwest of the city of Chihuahua in the State of Chihuahua in northern Mexico. The project is situated on the western edge of the Sierra Madre Occidental in the Temoris mining district.
The La Currita Groupings includes 4 mines, a 150 ton/day operating floatation mill and stockpiled ore. The La Currita mine was in steady production from 1983 until 1998. A diamond drilling exploration program conducted in 1998 indicated grades of 2.59 g/t Au and 200 g/t Ag. Existing mines and mineralized structures hold potential to increase tonnage through systematic exploration. The area surrounding La Currita has numerous mines and recent substantial discoveries. Adjacent to the La Currita holdings, Palmarejo has announced an inferred resource of 3.1 million ounce gold equivalent on their property. In addition, about 20 miles to the SE is the 170,000 ounce/year Glamis Gold's El Sauzal gold mine and 40 miles to the North is Gammon Lake Resource's Ocampo Gold-Silver Project with a projected 270,000 gold-equivalent ounces/year.
In May, 2006, Tara Gold signed a Joint Venture Agreement with Raven Gold Corp. giving Raven the option to earn up to 60% interest in the La Currita Groupings by making certain payments to Tara Gold, issuing 750,000 shares, making all remaining property payments, spending a minimum of $3.5 million over the next 36 months, and reaching increased production levels.
The miners are currently working the faces of an approximately 14 meter wide vein, where they are producing an estimated 160 tonnes per day from two 4.5 meter wide by 3 meter high faces. A second shift is scheduled to begin by next week, bringing total daily production to 320 tonnes per day. Concurrently, miners are cross cutting the vein to expose two additional faces, which can then provide another 320 tonnes per day of ore for the expanding Mill.
The expansion of the La Currita Mine and Mill has been ongoing and is now nearing completion. The plant has seen the addition of a 6’ x 12’ Ball Mill, a 6” Cyclone Classifier, an additional bank of Floatation Cells, and various other upgrades. Production from the plant is anticipated to begin in early 2007.