Galantas Gold Corporation has announced the successful completion of its trial stoping program at the Cavanacaw Gold Mine, part of the Omagh Project in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
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The trial has brought a high level of understanding to the mine development process and helped us conclude that the Cavanacaw Mine can be mined successfully, utilizing a longhole mining method and backfill. The trial stoping has provided sufficient information to bring a high level of confidence for a successful stoping program in the future.
Mario Stifano, CEO, Galantas Gold Corporation
Estimated profits from concentrate sales were around US$1,103,000 in 2023 and US$207,000 in the first quarter of 2024. Until the mine starts producing commercially, the development assets are deducted from the net proceeds from concentrate sales.
In two distinct blocks, the modified Avoca long hole open stoping method was successfully applied to mine and backfill six stopes. The planned minimum stope width was 2.2 meters, with lengths ranging from 10 to 15 meters. The vertical distance from the roof to the floor between the stope levels was approximately 8 meters. If the trial proves successful, the company plans to extend the level spacing to 12 meters. To evaluate the method's suitability and provide a training project for locally trained mining operators, relatively low-grade areas of the mine were selected for the trial.
Throughout this phase, 3,175 tons of mineralized material were safely and responsibly mined from the six stopes. Reconciliation was completed for two of the stopes, revealing an average grade increase of 113 % compared to the grade modeled in the technical report titled "Resource Estimate, Preliminary Economic Assessment & Detailed Feasibility Study on the Omagh Gold Project, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland," dated July 26, 2014, and filed on September 4, 2014.
Trials have resulted in an optimized cycle of two days from the initial stope blast to the completion of backfill, reducing the potential for dilution and streamlining the process. This mining method can now be applied to over 240 planned stopes in the Kearney and Joshua zones, with grades ranging from 2.0 grams per ton (g/t) gold to 17 g/t.