Unigold’s Neita Concession in The Dominican Republic boasts vast economic potential with polymetallic deposits

When thinking of the Dominican Republic most people conjure up images of lush vegetation and pristine beaches, however, the island nation is increasingly becoming a go-to gold destination.  Home to the joint venture Pueblo Viejo gold mine owned by Barrick Gold Corp and Newmont Corporation, the project is the fourth-largest gold mine in the world, establishing the Dominican Republic as a formidable gold-producing nation.  Pueblo Viejo produces 850,000 ounces of gold annually with an all-in sustaining cost of roughly US$750. The mine life for Pueblo Viejo was recently extended beyond 2040, with a measured and indicated resource of 15 million ounces including reserves.  In 2020 the mine produced 903,000 ounces, while the country’s entire gold output was 905,600 ounces (28.3 tons) and that number is on the rise.  READ: Unigold announces non-brokered private placement of up to $3M In fact, Dominican Republic gold mining exports rose by 79.6% during the first three months of 2021, as the country makes a robust recovery following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In addition, Pueblo Viejo has been a major economic driver in the Dominican Republic. Gold exports between 2013 to 2020 averaged around 31% of national exports.  In addition to gold, the Dominican Republic also hosts several other strategic and in-demand metals. Like Barrick’s Pueblo mine, there is also the Falcondo nickel laterite mine owned by private company Americano Nickel Ltd and the Cerro de Maimón copper-gold mine owned by Australia’s Perilya Limited. There are a further 101 active mining operations in the Dominican Republic extracting marble, limestone, salt, kaolinite, aggregates and semi-precious larimar. The first quarter of 2021 saw exports of these other metals increase with the total mining sector climbing by 16.2% year-over-year.  Versatile exploration  One of the island’s exploration projects is Unigold Inc’s Neita property that boasts polymetallic potential. The 21,031 hectares Neita Concessions is the largest single project within the 75 kilometer-wide Cretaceous-age area known for hosting major gold-copper-silver deposits.  In 2002, Unigold purchased the concessions as part of a governmental effort to entice explorers to the country. Prior to acquiring Neita, Unigold had a presence in Cuba and had become familiar with island jurisdictions, as well as the wealth of mineral deposits that lie beneath the Caribbean countries. “The same group of rocks carry on through the Greater Antilles, from Cuba, through Haiti, to the Dominican Republic, and then over to Puerto Rico,” Unigold CEO Joe Hamilton explained to Proactive in an interview. “In 2002 Haiti wasn't favorable for exploration investment, but the next country over, the Dominican Republic, certainly was favorable in the early 2000s. It was a relatively stable country, good rocks and land was available, which is always one of the big things for an exploration company: the ability to get a fairly large concession,” Hamilton added.  Like the polymetallic make-up of the island, Unigold’s Candelones deposit is a multi-metal deposit. Contained within the Neita Concessions property are 15 gold/copper and five copper targets. Presently, Unigold is focused on this Candelones deposit: a polymetallic zone hosting gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc deposits.  Unigold released a Preliminary Economic Study for a starter oxide project at Candelones in April 2021. The three-year oxide project showed annual production of about 31,000 at an all-in cost of about $744. “The oxide project is a perfect starter for Unigold,” commented Hamilton. “It allows us to start the permitting process, train a local workforce and get our supply lines set up before we move into the larger sulphide project.”  DEEP DIVE: Unigold is in hot pursuit of precious metals in the Dominican Republic In May 2021, Unigold unveiled an updated sulphide resource estimate for Candelones, which showed measured and indicated resources of about 20 million tons averaging 1.62 grams per ton (g/t) containing 1.065 million ounces of gold with 2.5 million ounces of silver and 65.7 million pounds of copper. The inferred resource adds an additional 1,190 ounces of gold with about 2.0 million ounces of silver and 45.9 million pounds of copper.  The diverse metallic nature of the deposit offers valuable versatility to Unigold’s future development plans at Candelones. But it is the regional exploration that has Hamilton excited.  “It's interesting, because we've got copper targets, we've got gold targets, we've got copper-gold targets, we've got zinc-copper targets, there's a little bit of everything,” said Hamilton. “Primarily the metal of choice, and the one we're really looking at is gold, principally because that's where we started.”  The Unigold CEO went on to note that the company is metals agnostic and is mobilizing an exploration team to begin mapping a “massive” 10-kilometer-long copper anomaly.  “Gold obviously has more sexiness in the market. People like to see gold, but you know, copper is bread and butter,” explained Hamilton. “Copper mines are usually very long-lived, usually lower cost (and) usually somewhat easier to mine than gold.”  He continued: “We've got a number of really good copper targets that we'll be looking at, in conjunction with our regional exploration this year.”  Prices of the red metal surged to an all-time high of $10,724.50 a ton earlier this year and continue to trade in 10-year high territory.  “We won't take our eyes off gold, it's in our name,” said Unigold’s Hamilton." But we are agnostic, we're metal miners. So, whatever metals we can find, if they show good economics, we will certainly look at those.”  Contact the writer at georgia@proactiveinvestors.com Follow her on Twitter @MissInformd