Atico Mining enters deals to build La Plata power line
2020-08-13 17:22 ET - News Release
Mr. Fernando Ganoza reports
ATICO SIGNS AN AGREEMENT WITH THE ECUADORIAN ENERGY COMPANY FOR THE ENGINEERING, PERMITTING AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE LA PLATA POWER LINE
Atico Mining Corp. has officially entered into an interinstitutional co-operation agreement (the power agreement) between CNEL, Ecuadorian National Electrical Co. and its Ecuadorean subsidiary Compania Minera La Plata SA.
The Company continues to advance the La Plata permitting process while in parallel advancing different aspects of required work to complete the planned feasibility study. As a major component of this study, finding a solution for clean energy is an important milestone. After several months of productive negotiations with CNEL and the Ecuadorean energy authorities we are pleased with the execution of this strategic agreement as it brings the Company's La Plata project another step closer towards production.
The La Plata project has received strong support from the Government of Ecuador and has been identified as part of the "second generation" priority projects necessary for the nation's economic development. The Power Agreement confirms the collaboration between Compania Minera La Plata S.A, the local subsidiary of Atico Mining in Ecuador and the national power company CNEL consisting of the engineering, permitting and construction required to connect the 69kv power line required for La Plata's planned mining infrastructures located in Palo Quemado, province of Cotopaxi.
Alain Bureau, President of Atico Mining commented: "This is a major milestone our team has achieved for the La Plata project. The government has been quite supportive of the project and our efforts to maintain excellent cooperation and transparency with all level of authorities. This has been key to build trust while making great strides towards fast tracking permitting of this project. We would like to commend the cooperation of CNEL's authorities for their support on reaching this milestone."
The Power Agreement confirms the availability of the required power source from CNEL's regional substation located only 7.5 km from the project. This Power Agreement also allows the streamlining of the electrical power supply to the project and demonstrates the Ecuadorian Government desire to fully integrate power, oil and mining to rapidly nurture its plans within the upcoming economic growth strategy. This agreement allows an easier cooperation of all engineering and environmental teams to insure the coordinated development and construction of the required powerline and connectivity to the main grid. The country's authorities are also proud to provide a clean energy source as the majority of Ecuador's electrical power comes from modern low cost hydroelectrical power plants.
As exploration and in-fill drilling continues for the rest of the year with two drill rigs at La Plata, Atico is boosting its local development team with the reassignment of some of its mining professionals from El Roble to assist with the engineering for the La Plata project. The Atico's internal development team and network of consultants ("the engineering group") has been very efficient in the transformation of the El Roble mine from a 350 tpd small scale operation to a modern 1,000 tpd operation. El Roble processing plant expansion has successfully increased its capacity maintaining high ore recoveries while at the same time achieving a lower production cost profile.
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