Argentina contractor MAPAL Constructions and Mining has won a two-year surface mining contract at Challenger Gold’s Hualilan gold project in San Juan, where it expects to start extraction next month.
Challenger said this week it had completed an initial production blast.
The ASX-listed company aims to cart 450,000 tonnes of Hualilan surface material about 165km for told treatment at the Casposo gold plant of Casposo Argentina Mining. Its toll milling agreement runs for three years. Challenger says the toll processing phase will draw on only 3% of its 2.8 million-ounce gold-equivalent resource.
MAPAL will undertake load-and-haul operations, auxiliary works and run-of-mine material handling covering about 3.37 million tonnes of material movement.
“Engaging MAPAL provides a low-risk and capital-efficient path to execute our toll milling phase while keeping the broader standalone development program on track,” Challenger CEO Kris Knauer said.
“MAPAL’s depth of experience, established workforce and long history in the San Juan mining community give us strong confidence in their ability to deliver.
“Appointing an established local contractor for mining production materially reduces execution risk and positions us for long-term success at Hualilan.”
