PPX Mining has a new deposit in the Igor project area, which is a multi-deposit district

PPX Mining Corp. (TSX.V: PPX) is a Canadian-based exploration and development company with assets in northern Peru. Igor, PPX’s 100%-owned flagship gold and silver project, is located in the prolific Northern Peru gold belt in eastern La Libertad Department.

Natasha Frakes: Hi, I’m Natasha Frakes and you’re watching Market One Minute. Joining us Brian Maher, President, CEO and Director of PPX Mining. Thank you so much for being here.

Brian Maher: Great to be here.

Natasha Frakes: So, we’ve seen some very exciting results out of Igor lately. Can you provide us with an update on the drilling program?  

Brian Maher: Absolutely. At our flagship Igor Project in Northern Peru, we have been putting out some outstanding drill results over the last six months. But I’d like to make a special emphasis on the results from the Portachuelos area, over a kilometre south of the Callanquitas mine. There we’ve intersected thick zones of gold and silver grade breccias, but these are thick, 40 metres, 25 metres, with grades between .7 and .9 grams per tonne gold equivalent. Very near surface, open along strike, and open at depth. We’ve planned additional drilling in this area, which is already confirming that this breccias system is quite large.

What these drill holes are doing are starting to validate the thesis that the Igor Project is a multi-deposit district. Yes, we have Mina Callanquitas, but now we have this new area, Portachuelos, and we’re waiting to drill yet a third target, Tesoros. Add in the fourth, Domo, and we’re starting to outline multiple deposits within the Igor Project, establishing that it truly is a district scale project.

Natasha Frakes: How do you expect successful drilling outside the known resource area to influence plans going forward?  

Brian Maher: Well right now of, course, we’re continuing to develop the underground mine at Callanquitas, but when we really look to the future of the company, it’s going to be important to have additional resources for future exploitation. And so I think it’s actually going to have a huge impact on the future of the company. The ability in the future to have multiple mines exploiting multiple deposits throughout the project — that really could build PPX from being a one-mine company into a multi-mine company, producing 100,000 or 150,000 ounces a year at some point in the future. That’s a goal for us.

Natasha Frakes: Do you see the Igor Project evolving into a true district scale gold and silver exploration and development opportunity?

Brian Maher: When we look at our neighbors in the area, the Yanacocha District, what Tahoe Resources has done with La Arena and Shahuindo. That’s the pattern we see, that you control a large chunk of a mineralized belt, and then through systematic exploration, you start developing multiple deposits. Now with our drilling program ongoing, that seems to be what we’re doing at Igor. Now it becomes the Callanquitas deposit. We’re finding something at Portachuelos, which may evolve into another deposit. Then of course, we have Domo and Tesoros. The potential to have four separate deposits, that could really help this company grow in the future, build the resource base, and really provide a potential for building multiple mines within our project area.

Natasha Frakes: Can you give us an update on the Callanquitas deposit and what you’re doing with the underground test mining and bulk sampling program?

Brian Maher: Yes. That program has exceeded our expectations. To date we’ve mined over 13,000 tonnes of bulk sample, processed that material, and recovered gold and silver from that. What does that do for the company? It gives us detailed metallurgical data on how this mineralization performs under actual mining and processing conditions. All of that information will be used in our Pre-Feasibility Study, or PFS, which will be due out late March or April of this year. We’re really excited about that document because what that will do is outline the project economics — what the future of production could look like, what the cash costs will be, and indeed what will the future of Mina Callanquitas look like.

Also, we’ve been doing infill drilling to support the resource reassessment, and reserve estimate that will come out of the PFS. The results we’ve seen: 3.3 metres grading over 30 grams per tonne gold equivalent. This is expanding the size of the resource at Mina Callanquitas, and that really bodes well for the future of the project.

Natasha Frakes: With the exploration in mine development moving forward so quickly, what can investors look forward to?

Brian Maher: I think we’re going to have a great flow of news this year. First and foremost, continue our drilling program. These drill holes that we’re seeing the Portachuelos area, and that we will be seeing in the Tesoros area in the near future, these will start to outline these new deposits in the district. However, the PFS on Mina Callanquitas, expected again late March, April of this year, will really put the economics on paper of what that mine can look like. What the production profile will be, and how low will the mining costs be. All of those together will start to establish PPX as really a growing mining company with multiple deposits.

Natasha Frakes: It sounds like there’s a lot to look forward to. Brian, thank you so much for being here.

Brian Maher: Pleasure.

This story was provided by Market One Media Group for commercial purposes.