Feb 23 2017
Lundin Gold Inc. ("Lundin Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary Aurelian Ecuador S.A. has awarded the mine development contract for the Fruta del Norte gold project in Ecuador to a consortium comprising the following companies:
- Ingenieria y Construcciones Mas Errazuriz Limitada y Filiales ("Mas Errazuriz") of Chile, which brings over 30 years of underground mine construction and employs over 1,000 employees in Chile, Peru, Argentina and Columbia; and
- Sevilla y Martinez Ingenieros C.A. Semaica ("Semaica") of Ecuador, with over 60 years of civil construction experience in the country and employs over 1,000 people.
Mas Errazuriz and Semaica will partner as a 50/50 consortium to become Lundin Gold's key contractor for the portals and soft tunneling work and the development of the twin declines and of the mine in preparation for operations. Planning and mobilization activities will commence immediately under the terms of a Letter of Award executed on February 21, 2017.
A competitive bidding, evaluation and negotiation process was carried out by a cross functional project team over several months leading to this award. "We are very pleased to have completed the process of selection for the mine development contractor, enabling Lundin Gold to continue to advance the Fruta del Norte project on schedule," said Lundin Gold's President and Chief Executive Officer, Ron Hochstein. "We look forward to working with these two experienced companies to form the critical underground development team for the success of Fruta del Norte."
The Early Works program to prepare the site for the start of the work on the mine development, as well as basic engineering, continue. With the award of this contract, the Fruta del Norte project remains on track for the start of construction of the mine portals as planned in the Feasibility Study.