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Resource World Magazine Volume 18 Issue 3

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A P R I L / M A Y 2 0 2 0 www.resourceworld.com 51 national electricity grid which runs near the property. Marmato accounted for 12% of production in 2019 and is expected to produce between 32,000 and 37,000 oz gold in 2020. The project has a milling/ gravity plant capacity of 1,200 tpd. The Marmato district has been exploited since pre-Colonial times and has been in almost continuous production ever since. The gold resource of Marmato was so significant that Simon Bolivar, the revo - lutionary leader who liberated much of South America from Spanish rule, used the mines as collateral with British banks to secure funding for a war of independence against Spain. The various areas of the Marmato mountain were consolidated in 2009 and 2010 and included: the Zona Alta explo - ration project, the producing Marmato underground mine in Zona Baja and the Echandia exploration project to the north. According to the company, the consoli- dation of the different areas puts Gran Colombia in a position to explore, develop and, subject to feasibility and permitting, expand mining operations at Marmato. The Marmato gold deposits occur within a structurally-controlled epither- mal vein system with a mineral assemblage dominated by pyrite, arsenopyrite, black Fe-rich sphalerite, pyrrhotite, chalcopy- rite and electrum in the upper zone, and a mesothermal veinlet system with a mineral assemblage dominated by pyrrhotite, chal- copyrite, bismuth minerals and visible gold. In October 2017, the company announced a change in the future expan - sion from open pit to underground mining which includes an increase in cut-off grade for the mineral resource estimate and the addition of new material from the deep mineralization below the existing Mineros Nacionales Mine. The Zona Baja title at Marmato was recently spun off into Caldas Gold Corp. in which Gran Colombia now holds a 72% interest. The Marmato assets, now owned by Caldas Gold, principally comprise the producing underground gold mine, including the right to mine in the lower portion of the Echandia license area, the existing 1,200 tonnes/day processing plant and the area encompassing the Deeps min - eralization, all located within the Zona Baja mining license area. Implementation of the optimized mine plan envisioned in the recent preliminary economic assessment assumes the Marmato Mine will produce up to 37,000 ounces of gold in 2020. Gran Colombia also has 100% own - ership of the Zancudo Project in the Titiribí mining district of Antioquia which includes a historical gold mine, the Independencia Mine, in the Middle Cauca Gold Belt, one that has produced about 130,000 ounces of gold with recovered grades of 14.6 g/t gold and 108.4 g/t silver. The Independencia Mine exploited an epithermal to mesothermal, intermediate sulphidation type vein system that was mined for over 3.5 km with known depths of over 900 metres. Gran Colombia com - pleted a 14,000-metre drilling program at Zancudo in 2011 and 2012 and in March 2017, signed an option agreement with IAMGOLD Corp. [IMG-TSX; IAG-NYSE] for the exploration and potential purchase of an interest in the Zancudo Project. IAMGOLD is currently carrying out a drilling campaign on the project. Gran Colombia has a 21% equity inter - est in Gold X Mining Corp. (formerly, Sandspring Resources) [GLDX-TSXV; SSPXF-OTCQX], a Canadian mining com - pany currently moving toward feasibility at its multi-million ounce Toroparu Project in the western Guyana gold district, and a 20% equity interest in Western Atlas Resources Inc. [WA-TSXV], a Canadian junior exploring its Meadowbank Project which is positioned along trend and immediately adjacent to Agnico Eagle's Meadowbank and Amaruq producing gold mines in Nunavut, Canada. Covid-19 has not impacted produc - tion or product shipments at any of the company's sites nor has there been any sig- nificant negative impact on, or disruption of, the company's supply chain. n MINING

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