Resource up, Rio out of project

A new resource estimate has increased the tonnage at the Sobre Saliente prospect in northern Uruguay, but Rio Tinto (RTP-N) has informed its joint-venture partner, Uruguay Goldfields (UGI-V), that it will be dropping its option on the project.

Reverse-circulation (RC) drilling at Sobre Saliente has defined a large mineralized zone about 2,450 metres long and 25-100 metres wide. Based on a cutoff grade of 0.1 gram gold per tonne, the inferred resource works out to 47 million tonnes grading 0.3 gram per tonne.

At a higher cutoff grade of 0.3 gram, the resource shrinks to 6.8 million tonnes grading 1 gram per tonne. This was not large enough to meet Rio’s criteria.