Lundin Gold President and Chief Executive Officer, Ron Hochstein, commented that, "The submission of the Phase Change Application for the La Zarza concession is a significant milestone in the development of the Fruta del Norte Project.
"The completion of this application on the heels of the release of positive feasibility study results demonstrates the Company’s determination to advance FDN and build a high grade gold mine in Ecuador."
Under the country’s mining law, the term of a concession is divided into an exploration phase and exploitation phase. When Lundin Gold acquired FDN at the end of 2014, the La Zarza concession had only 18 months remaining in its exploration phase, after which the concession had to either advance to exploitation or be subject to forfeiture.
The timely completion of a positive feasibility study at the start of June has enabled Lundin Gold to meet the PCA deadline.
The Government of Ecuador is required to review and render a determination on the phase change of La Zarza within 60 days of the PCA’s submittal. Lundin Gold has up to six months subsequent to the approval of the PCA by the Government of Ecuador to execute an exploitation agreement for FDN.
The Company and the Government of Ecuador successfully completed the negotiation of a definitive form of exploitation agreement for FDN earlier this year.
The Company continues to work with the Government of Ecuador on obtaining key environmental permits, including formal approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment and related Environmental License, which are also required to develop the Project.
Basic engineering and early works are planned to start in the third quarter of 2016 to keep the Company on-track for anticipated production at the start of 2020.
Lundin Gold Inc. owns the Fruta del Norte ("FDN") gold project located in southeast Ecuador. FDN is one of the largest and highest grade undeveloped gold projects in the world. The Company is advancing FDN in order to realize the significant potential of this asset.
