Nov 4 2015
Continental Gold Inc. is pleased to provide updated environmental permitting guidance for the Buriticá project.
As described in the Company's news release dated September 15, 2015, the National Government of Colombia has designated Buriticá a Project of National Strategic Interest (Proyecto de Interés Nacional Estratégico) ("PINES") for Colombia. The Company has been working closely with the National Government on the permitting process since the decision to formally elevate the review of the application for amendment to the existing environmental license (the "EIA") for the Buriticá project to Autoridad Nacional de Licencias Ambientales ("ANLA"), the Colombian national environmental licensing agency.
Buriticá Permitting History
March 30, 2010: Continental formed under current management; listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in April 2010;
May 2011: The infrastructure at the pre-existing fully permitted 30-tonne per day pilot-scale mine at the Buriticá project was renovated and modernized;
August 2012: The EIA was amended, allowing for construction of the one-kilometre Higabra Valley access tunnel (completed), a six-kilometre switchback road and a small wet-tailings facility (completed) to accommodate the pilot scale mine;
March 2013: New 30-year mining license awarded by the National Government, covering both Yaraguá and Veta Sur vein deposits;
November 2013: A minor modification to the EIA was awarded allowing for the construction of the Veta Sur drift and cross-cut, as well as the Yaraguá drift (both of which have been completed);
November 2013: Buriticá becomes a Project of National Strategic Interest for Colombia and was included in the PINES program. The objective of PINES is for designated projects to be governed at the National Government level and be fast-tracked to commercialization;
December 2013: A third EIA amendment application was filed with the regional departmental agency, representing a major modification to the environmental license for the surface infrastructure required to build a mine in the Higabra valley;
June 2015: Article 51 of Law 1753/2015 governing PINES was passed by the National Government, thus providing the Company the opportunity to elevate its environmental management to ANLA; and
September 2015: Continental elevates its EIA amendment application to ANLA.
Guidance
Since making the decision to elevate the EIA amendment application to ANLA, the Company has been working to revise and update certain areas of its application in order to align the project metrics with the feasibility study currently in progress (including mine design and annual production).The Company plans to file a revised EIA amendment application with ANLA in January 2016 and, based on existing precedents, expects ANLA to approve the EIA amendment prior to the end of H1 2016. Additionally, as Buriticá is part of the PINES program, ANLA will be the sole environmental agency in charge of managing Buriticá and the revised EIA amendment application will be reviewed on a priority basis.
Ari Sussman, Chief Executive Officer stated: "We would once again like to convey our disappointment to our shareholders that permitting for the Buriticá project at the local Antioquia level was not completed on time as anticipated. Having spoken to many of our shareholders since the decision to elevate our permit application to ANLA, we want to reiterate that we are confident in this move and have the management team in place to successfully complete permitting in 2016. "