GoldMining starts São Jorge environmental studies alongside drilling
Baseline work will support environmental assessment and licensing as the company targets a pre-feasibility study for the first half of 2028.
Mara Quinlan
GoldMining Inc. TSEGOLD NYSEAMERICANGLDG reported on Thursday that environmental baseline work has begun alongside a 6,000-metre drill program at its São Jorge gold project in Brazil. More than 1,000 metres are complete as the company gathers data for a pre-feasibility study and the country's multistep mine-licensing process.
Shares rose to C$1.04 at the Nov. 4 close in Toronto, at 4 p.m. EST, according to TSEGOLD. That close preceded Thursday's announcement.
GoldMining said the environmental and socioeconomic studies will provide the foundation for an Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Impact Report. Those documents support licensing in Brazil; the work announced is the preparation of baseline information.
GoldMining is an Americas-focused mineral explorer, and São Jorge is its wholly owned project in Pará State's Tapajós gold district. Its Oct. 28 announcement put completion of the pre-feasibility study in the first half of 2028.
Three rigs are drilling to tighten spacing around the margins of the deposit's main mineralized core, where resources are currently classified as inferred. The objective is to improve geological confidence and support an updated resource estimate for the planned open-pit design.
Fresh core will also supply mineralogical and metallurgical testing, while geotechnical work will examine the stability of the proposed pit and major facilities. GoldMining's Oct. 28 study announcement also outlined planning for hydrogeological drilling and drilling beneath proposed infrastructure to check for mineralization.
"With three drills currently turning on site and over 1,000 metres already safely completed, we are making steady progress at São Jorge," chief executive Alastair Still said in Thursday's release.
The engineering team will lead the pre-feasibility work from Belo Horizonte. The study is intended to refine capital and operating costs and further evaluate the project's economic viability, while the drilling supports decisions on the mine plan and processing route.
GoldMining's October corporate presentation listed C$21.4 million in cash as of May 31, separately from its listed equity investments. That dated corporate balance does not establish how much of the São Jorge study and environmental program is funded.
The June preliminary economic assessment estimated initial capital at US$202 million and average annual gold production at 51,250 ounces. It modelled a 10.6-year mine life using a gold price of US$3,500 an ounce.
The preliminary assessment includes inferred resources, which are too speculative geologically to qualify as mineral reserves. GoldMining cautions that there is no certainty its conceptual economics will be realized.
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GoldMining's next dated study milestone is completion of the pre-feasibility study, which its Oct. 28 announcement targeted for the first half of 2028.
