Condor Gold (AIM: CNR; TSX: COG – https://www.commodity-tv.com/…) is pleased to announce that all assay results have now been received for an 8,004 m infill drilling programme on the fully permitted high-grade La Mestiza Open Pit Mineral Resource at La India Project, Nicaragua. The results of the infill drilling programme are consistent with previous drilling grades and widths, demonstrating good continuity in gold mineralization between adjacent drill holes in the high-grade zones and therefore adding confidence to the geological model. The drilling programme has tightened drill spacing to 25 m along strike and 50 m down-dip in the zones that have the potential to support open pit mine development. The drilling was designed to upgrade the existing open pit gold mineral resource to the indicated category for the potential inclusion in a future Feasibility Study of the Company’s fully permitted La India Gold Mine Development Project. Condor Gold (AIM: CNR; TSX: COG – https://www.commodity-tv.com/…) is pleased to announce that all assay results have now been received for an 8,004 m infill drilling programme on the fully permitted high-grade La Mestiza Open Pit Mineral Resource at La India Project, Nicaragua. The results of the infill drilling programme are consistent with previous drilling grades and widths, demonstrating good continuity in gold mineralization between adjacent drill holes in the high-grade zones and therefore adding confidence to the geological model. The drilling programme has tightened drill spacing to 25 m along strike and 50 m down-dip in the zones that have the potential to support open pit mine development. The drilling was designed to upgrade the existing open pit gold mineral resource to the indicated category for the potential inclusion in a future Feasibility Study of the Company’s fully permitted La India Gold Mine Development Project.

Highlights: 
• Ninety-six diamond core drill holes for 8,004 m of infill drilling was completed on the high-grade La Mestiza Open Pit. Assay results include:
o 6.3 m true width at 6.84 g/t gold from 31.45 m (drill hole LIDC568), approximately 50 m below surface outcrop (which occurs on a rise).
o 4.1 m true width at 15.23 g/t gold from 47.80 m (drill hole LIDC514) approximately 40 m below surface.
o 3.6 m true width at 29.1 g/t gold from 105.70 m (drill hole LIDC471) approximately 85 m below surface.
• Drill results demonstrate excellent continuity in gold mineralization demonstrated between adjacent drill holes in the high grade zones adding confidence to the geological model.
• La Mestiza open pit has a Mineral Resource of 92 kt at 12.1 g/t gold for 36,000 oz gold in the Indicated Category and 341 kt at 7.7 g/t gold for 85,000 oz gold in the in the Inferred Category
• La Mestiza open pit contains an estimated fully diluted mill feed of 499Kt at 5.37g/t gold for 86,000 oz gold in the October 2021 PEA  and is targeted for early extraction.
• The tighter drill spacing was designed to upgrade a significant part of the Mineral Resource to the Indicated Category, and for their potential inclusion in future feasibility studies.
• La Mestiza Vein Set remains open down dip and along strike in both directions, has parallel veins identified by rock chip sampling and trenching – potential for further significant resource expansion and discovery.
• Drilling in 1991 estimated a Soviet-style mineral inventory classification of 2,392 kt at 10.2 g/t gold for 785,694 oz gold at Mestiza indicating exploration potential beyond the current mineral resource. 

Mark Child, Chairman and CEO commented: 
“The assay results from 8,004 m of infill drilling within the high grade Mestiza open pit demonstrate good continuity of gold mineralisation in the high-grade zones and is designed to convert the Inferred Mineral Resource to a higher degree of confidence Indicated Mineral Resource for eventual inclusion in the mine plan.  Drill result 6.3 m true width at 6.84 g/t gold from only 31.45 m drill depth will be targeted for early mill feed. It has long been recognised that the Mineral Resource on the Mestiza Vein Set has the potential to double with additional drilling beyond the current mineral resource; in 1991 the Mestiza Vein Set was assigned a Soviet-style mineral inventory classification of 2,392 kt at 10.2 g/t gold for 785,694 oz gold.”

Background 

The Mestiza vein set is located only 3 km from the permitted processing plant on Condor’s La India Gold Mine Development Project (see Figure 1). Prior to the latest infill drilling campaign Condor drilled 53 drill holes for 7,688 m and estimated a Mineral Resource comprising:
• an open pit Mineral Resource of 92 kt at 12.1 g/t for 36,000 oz gold in the Indicated category, and 341 kt at 7.7 g/t for 85,000 oz gold in the in the Inferred category, and 
• an underground Mineral Resource of 118 kt at 5.5g /t for 21,000 oz gold in the Indicated category, and 984 kt at 5.3 g/t for 169,000 oz gold in the Inferred category (Table 1 below).

Open pit mining scenarios based on the combined Inferred and Indicated open pit Mineral Resource at La Mestiza envisage a fully diluted mill feed of 499Kt at 5.37g/t gold for 86,000 oz gold. Assuming a 91% metallurgical recovery and a gold price of US$1,700 per oz, gold production would be 78,260 oz gold and revenues US$133M. The studies were undertaken by SRK Consulting (UK) Limited as part of the project-wide Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) Technical Report announced in an RNS dated the 9 September 2021 and made available for public disclosure in compliance with NI 43-101 standards in October 2021. The latest infill drilling was designed to define all the open pittable Mineral Resource at the more confident indicated category for potential inclusion in a future feasibility study. In 1991 the La Mestiza Vein Set was assigned a mineral resource of 2,392 kt at 10.2 g/t gold for 785,694 oz gold (Soviet-style C and P category mineral inventory classification), emphasising the possibility to expand the mineral resource.

Geology and gold mineralisation

The Mestiza Vein Set comprises several gold-bearing epithermal quartz veins within an 800 m wide corridor and striking along a distance of 1,500 m to 2,000 m in north-northwest to south-southeast direction along the top of a broad ridge (see Figure 2). The gold mineralised veins are contained within steep-dipping faults and to a lesser extent as breccia and stockwork veinlets within fracture zones on the walls of the faults. The highest-grades and thickest intercepts occur on and near to a bend or jog in the fault which would have formed a point of dilation and low pressure for gold-bearing fluids to infill and precipitate minerals during fault movement. In these zones, early quartz veins and quartz breccias have been ground to fault breccia, quartz sands or even fault clays by movement along the fault planes. The highest gold grades often occur where later stage, post-fault quartz mineralisation has overprinted and cemented the fault breccias and quartz sands. The gold mineralisation is interpreted to be associated with both phases of quartz development.

The La Mestiza Vein Set is open along strike and down dip and has parallel veins identified by rock chip sampling, which are outside the area of Mestiza Vein Set’s Mineral Resource. The Mineral Resource is open down dip and along strike in both directions and there are numerous parallel veins.

Latest drilling results

Condor completed an infill drilling programme of ninety-six diamond core drill holes for 8,004 m in October 2021. The drilling programme tightened drill sample spacing from 50 m to 100 m spacing to a 25 m along strike and 50 m down-dip in the areas that that are considered to have the highest potential to support open pit mining. The infill drilling focussed on the 85,000 oz gold that is currently categorised as an Inferred Mineral Resource, with the objective to convert the inferred category resource to the higher confidence indicated category (which would potentially be availablefor inclusion in future pre-feasibility or feasibility mining studies. All assay results have now been returned and the Company’s geologists are working with independent geological consultants SRK (UK) Consulting Limited to update the Mineral Resource Estimate for La Mestiza.

The results of the infill drilling are consistent with previous drilling grades and widths, demonstrating good continuity in gold mineralization between adjacent drill holes in the high grade zones. Table 1 below shows the top twelve drill intercepts to-date, seven of which are from the latest infill drilling.  Assay results returned since the last announcement (see RNS dated 21st October 2021) include an intercept of 6.90 m (6.3 m true width) at 6.84 g/t gold from 31.45 m drill depth in drill hole LIDC568; only 50 m below surface outcrop (which occurs on a rise), and also several metres outside of the edge of the current pit shell. This supports and expands on adjacent drill intercepts of 4.5m (4.1 m true width) at 15.23g/t gold from 47.8m drill depth in drill hole LIDC514 and 3.90 m (3.6 m true width) at 29.1 g/t gold from 105.70 m in drill hole LIDC471 and that were returned earlier in the drilling programme and announced on the 21 October 2021.

About Condor Gold plc:

Condor Gold plc was admitted to AIM in May 2006 and dual listed on the TSX in January 2018. The Company is a gold exploration and development company with a focus on Nicaragua.

On 25 October 2021 Condor announced the filing of a Preliminary Economic Assessment Technical Report (“PEA”) for its La India Project, Nicaragua on SEDAR https://www.sedar.com. The highlight of the technical study is a post-tax, post upfront capital expenditure NPV of US$418 million, with an IRR of 54% and 12 month pay-back period, assuming a US$1,700 per oz gold price, with average annual production of 150,000 oz gold per annum for the initial 9 years of gold production. The open pit mine schedules have been optimised from designed pits, bringing higher grade gold forward resulting in average annual production of 157,000 oz gold in the first 2 years from open pit material and underground mining funded out of cashflow.In August 2018, the Company announced that the Ministry of the Environment in Nicaragua had granted the Environmental Permit (“EP”) for the development, construction and operation of a processing plant with capacity to process up to 2,800 tonnes per day at its wholly-owned La India gold Project (“La India Project”). The EP is considered the master permit for mining operations in Nicaragua. Condor has purchased a new SAG Mill, which has mainly arrived in Nicaragua. Site clearance and preparation is at an advanced stage.

Environmental Permits were granted in April and May 2020 for the Mestiza and America open pits respectively, both located close to La India. The Mestiza open pit hosts 92 Kt at a grade of 12.1 g/t gold (36,000 oz contained gold) in the Indicated Mineral Resource category and 341 Kt at a grade of 7.7 g/t gold (85,000 oz contained gold) in the Inferred Mineral Resource category. The America open pit hosts 114 Kt at a grade of 8.1 g/t gold (30,000 oz) in the Indicated Mineral Resource category and 677 Kt at a grade of 3.1 g/t gold (67,000 oz) in the Inferred Mineral Resource category. Following the permitting of the Mestiza and America open pits, together with the La India Open Pit Condor has 1.12 M oz gold open pit Mineral Resources permitted for extraction.

Disclaimer

Neither the contents of the Company’s website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company’s website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

Qualified Persons

The technical and scientific information in this press release has been reviewed, verified and approved by Andrew Cheatle, P.Geo., who is a “qualified person” as defined by NI 43-101 and Gerald D. Crawford, P.E., who is a “qualified person” as defined by NI 43-101 and is the Chief Technical Officer of Condor Gold plc.

Technical Information

Certain disclosure contained in this news release of a scientific or technical nature has been summarised or extracted from the technical report entitled “Technical Report on the La India Gold Project, Nicaragua, October 2021”, dated October 22, 2021 with an effective date of September 9, 2021 (the “Technical Report”), prepared in accordance with NI 43-101. The Qualified Persons responsible for the Technical Report are Dr Tim Lucks of SRK Consulting (UK) Limited, and Mr Fernando Rodrigues, Mr Stephen Taylor and Mr Ben Parsons of SRK Consulting (U.S.) Inc. Mr Parsons assumes responsibility for the MRE, Mr Rodrigues the open pit mining aspects, Mr Taylor the underground mining aspects and Dr Lucks for the oversight of the remaining technical disciplines and compilation of the report.

Forward Looking Statements

All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are ‘forward-looking information’ with respect to the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements with respect to: the ongoing mining dilution and pit optimisation studies, and the incorporation of same into any mining production schedule, future development and production plans at La India Project. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as: "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", “strategies”, “estimate”, "expect", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intends", "believe", "potential", “could”, “might”, “will” and similar expressions. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the date the statements are made including, among others, assumptions regarding: future commodity prices and royalty regimes; availability of skilled labour; timing and amount of capital expenditures; future currency exchange and interest rates; the impact of increasing competition; general conditions in economic and financial markets; availability of drilling and related equipment; effects of regulation by governmental agencies; the receipt of required permits; royalty rates; future tax rates; future operating costs; availability of future sources of funding; ability to obtain financing and assumptions underlying estimates related to adjusted funds from operations. Many assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of the Company and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct. 

Such forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, which may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, risks related to: mineral exploration, development and operating risks; estimation of mineralisation and resources; environmental, health and safety regulations of the resource industry; competitive conditions; operational risks; liquidity and financing risks; funding risk; exploration costs; uninsurable risks; conflicts of interest; risks of operating in Nicaragua; government policy changes; ownership risks; permitting and licencing risks; artisanal miners and community relations; difficulty in enforcement of judgments; market conditions; stress in the global economy; current global financial condition; exchange rate and currency risks; commodity prices; reliance on key personnel; dilution risk; payment of dividends; as well as those factors discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Company’s annual information form for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 dated March 31, 2021 and available under the Company’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law.