Lundin Gold expanding Ecuador exploration by 10,000m

Canada’s Lundin Gold will expand its exploration program for 2024 by 10,000m following the results obtained at its Bonza Sur target in the Fruta del Norte mine area in Ecuador.

Based on positive results to date, the company is increasing its near-mine drilling program by 10,000m, bringing the total regional and near-mine exploration program to 66,000m, the company said in a statement.

The new drilling would increase the cost of the 2024 exploration program by US$2mn to US$44mn.

The first hole was drilled at Bonza Sur in the first quarter of 2023.

"The drilling program at this target continues to develop our current understanding of Bonza Sur as a shallow higher-grade core within a wide mineralized zone that has significant further upside. Bonza Sur is still sparsely drilled and open for expansion along strike, its width and at depth," CEO Ron Hochstein said.

So far this year, the near-mine drilling program has completed 26,056m, the vast majority of which has been at Bonza Sur, which is located 1km from the Fruta del Norte mine and is being delineated as a new gold deposit.

A maiden mineral resource estimate is expected in the first half of 2025.

Fruta del Norte is considered one of the biggest gold discoveries of the last 50 years. For 2024, production guidance is 450,000-500,000oz .

In December, Hochstein told BNamericas that the company is looking to continue increasing the mine's reserves and, in the medium term, discover a deposit with similar characteristics to Fruta del Norte.

The Mirador copper operation and Fruta del Norte are the only large-scale mines in the country but mining is already Ecuador’s fourth biggest export item behind shrimp, oil and bananas.