Rio2 Ltd has introduced the celebration of the official begin of development of its Fenix Gold Mine situated within the Maricunga Gold Belt of the Atacama Area.
The occasion held on February 6, was attended by the Honorable Aurora Williams Baussa, Minister of Mining; Mario Silva Álvarez, Deputy Governor of Atacama; Jorge Riesco Valdivieso, President of SONAMI (Chilean Nationwide Mining Society); representatives of the Colla Indigenous Communities; Regional Ministerial Secretaries; representatives of Mining and Trade Guilds and excessive authorities from InvestChile, CORPROA (The Company for the Improvement of the Atacama Area), and SERNAGEOMIN (Nationwide Service of Geology and Mining).
The occasion included remarks from the taking part authorities and Andrew Cox, Rio2’s President & CEO.
As introduced in a press launch dated January 13, 2025, the corporate recommenced development actions on the Fenix Gold Mine in October 2024 after efficiently finishing a debt and fairness financing for the development of the mine introduced on October 29, 2024.
Bulk earthworks on the plant website have been accomplished and concrete bases for the footings of the processing plant have been poured. The ADR plant can be housed inside a metal framed constructing cladded with modular thermo-acoustic panels.
Earthworks have commenced on the leach pad stability platform, which varieties the bottom of the Section 1 leach pad. The leach pad has been designed to be in-built 4 phases over the 17-year mine lifetime of the 20,000 t per day operations.
Excavation earthworks for the PLS pond have commenced adjoining to the ADR plant. The PLS pond can be lined with a double HDPE geomembrane liner system and have an put in capability of 28,000 cubic metres. As decided by water stability modelling within the 2023 Fenix Gold feasibility examine, a bigger main occasions pond is at present deliberate to be in-built 12 months 6 of the mine operation.
A preliminary inner examine accomplished by the Rio2 technical group has indicated that the Fenix Gold Mine has the potential to be expanded from its first section 20,000 t per day ore mining charge to round 80,000 t per day. Rising the ore mining charge to this degree may see gold manufacturing rise from an preliminary charge of roughly 100,000 oz every year to a goal vary of 250,000-300,000 oz every year. To quantify and justify this potential growth, Rio2 has initiated a mine growth examine with a goal completion date by the top of 2025.
Additionally current on the occasion was STRACON Group CEO Steve Dixon. STRACON is a key contractor at Fenix Gold and in November 2024 commenced its preliminary development actions. This contract, awarded in 2021, encompasses a variety of important infrastructure actions for the challenge, together with the event of entry roads, haul roads, platforms, ponds, and leach pads. Moreover, it contains open-pit mining operations and the transportation of water to the location.
On the time the contractor acknowledged: “This challenge represents a pivotal alternative for STRACON to leverage our in depth expertise in comparable initiatives, positioning us as a strategic accomplice in accountable and sustainable mining. With a concentrate on operational effectivity and adherence to the best security requirements, we now have resumed this collaborative contract, combining all efforts to make sure the progress and success of the Fenix Gold challenge. By means of this partnership with Rio2, we reaffirm our dedication to advancing accountable mining and delivering operational excellence, which defines each certainly one of our initiatives. Our involvement within the Fenix Gold challenge not solely strengthens our presence in Chile but additionally contributes to the sustainable development and growth of the mining business within the area.”
