Grayd Resource (GYD-V) is pushing ahead with a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on its 100%-owned La India gold project in Sonora state, Mexico, following an updated estimate showing 760,000 oz. gold in the measured and indicated category and 506,000 oz. gold in the inferred, a 16% and 35% increase, respectively, over the previous February 2009 resource estimate.
The PEA study on the project will determine the economics of developing an open-pit heap-leach operation.
The new resource estimate is a measured and indicated 26.8 million tonnes grading 0.88 gram gold per tonne at a cutoff grade of 0.4 gram gold, and an inferred 19.7 million tonnes of 0.80 gram gold.
Two drills are currently working on the 260-sq.-km La India property in the mineral-rich Sierra Madre trend of northern Mexico, as part of a 15,000-metre drill program.
La India is about 220 km by air east of the city of Hermosillo and 300 km south of the US-Mexico border. It is also about 7 km northwest of Alamos Gold’s (AGI-T) producing Mulatos gold mine. After Alamos, Grayd is the second-largest landholder in the Mulatos gold belt.
La India is comprised of multiple volcanic rock hosted, high-sulfidation, epithermal gold systems.
The majority of the resource at La India is oxide material, which lends itself to a relatively simple recovery process. The oxide material contains predominantly gold mineralization with minor amounts of silver.
Column-leach tests reported in August 2008 and November 2009 indicate an average gold recovery of 80% to 84% should be achievable in a heap-leach operation.
Preliminary testing on sulphide material indicated that relatively high gold recovery may be achieved in a flotation concentrate. In two samples tested, 94% of the contained gold reported to the rougher flotation concentrate.
Further test-work on sulphide material is planned.
A PEA or scoping study is expected to be completed later this year.
Meanwhile, Grayd has started environmental baseline studies that will continue throughout this year.
Priority areas of the drill program are three very large and prospective targets: La India, Tubos and Tarachi. Other areas with potential are being mapped and sampled.
At presstime, Grayd’s shares were 86¢, trading within a 52-week range of 31.5¢-$1, with 80.7 million shares outstanding.
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