Aguia Resources executive chairman Warwick Grigor said:“The assay results from the newly discovered artisanal adit suggest a vein strike direction that clearly demonstrates the connection between the main vein sets being exploited at Santa Barbara. Additionally, the introduction of a totally new management team both corporately and operationally has had a very positive effect on the Santa Barbara operation.”
In the past two months the company has overhauled its entire Colombian operational management, ditching unskilled labour for seasoned in-country specialists with deep experience in narrow-vein mining and gold processing.
Since then, Aguia says it has seen dramatic improvement in both mine-grade control and plant recovery. Dilution has been slashed thanks to the adoption of more selective mining techniques and feed grades are now regularly clocking in above 10g/t gold.
On the processing front, Aguia’s plant is starting to hit its stride, with a series of savvy upgrades already delivering results, with even more changes in the pipeline to keep the momentum building.
By setting the mill discharge to a finer grind – so that 80 per cent of its ore particles are smaller than 44 microns – Aguia has hit a 50 micron average sweet spot, freeing up more gold.
To ramp up processing and lift gold recoveries, management will swap out its 20HP mill motors for more powerful 40HP units, tweak the agitation circuit and fine-tune its Merrill–Crowe extraction system.
The company is now also adding cyanide earlier into the process – during grinding – which has cut down leach tank time and allows it to potentially boost plant throughput without losing any recovery. It is targeting more than 90 per cent metallurgical recovery now.
Aguia says the various changes are starting to deliver the goods. Doré bars have been produced and shipped to a refinery in Medellin for analysis in a symbolic milestone for the project and a vote of confidence in the new strategy.
With a revamped operational crew, a plant running at higher efficiency and a tantalising new vein system potentially tying the entire goldfield together, Aguia may just be entering a new golden era at Santa Barbara.
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