Pan Global outlines 32.4M tonne La Romana copper resource

Pan Global Resources outlined 32.4 million tonnes of measured and indicated resource at La Romana in Spain and wants the wider Escacena project past 100 million tonnes, The Northern Miner reported Oct. 22.

The estimate contains 119,500 tonnes of copper, 8,800 tonnes of tin and 1.7 million ounces of silver. It grades 0.37% copper, 0.027% tin and 1.7 grams of silver per tonne, effective last December. Inferred material adds 4 million tonnes at 0.4% copper. Tin accounts for an estimated 15% to 20% of the deposit's metal value.

For allocators, La Romana has a defined resource but not yet a permitted, financed mine. Exploration permits remain outstanding on newly awarded ground that CEO Tim Moody sees as central to reaching the 100-million-tonne scale, and the report says the project has not demonstrated economic viability.

Moody, a former Rio Tinto exploration director who leads the Vancouver-based explorer, is proposing an "optionality study" instead of a preliminary economic assessment. He told The Northern Miner at the Mining and Minerals Hall conference that the study could test ore sorting, which separates mineralized material from waste before processing. Moody said the confidence of the resource estimate could let the company move straight to a prefeasibility study, but gave no timetable.

At La Romana's current size, Moody said trucking or conveying material to another operator made more sense than building a standalone plant. Escacena lies about 35 km northwest of Seville, adjoining Grupo México's Los Frailes development and near Atalaya Mining's Riotinto operation. Ore sorting would cut the tonnage that has to move, which the report says could make the deposit more attractive to neighboring producers.

The Commodity Discovery Fund has put $316 million into 40-50 discoveries and buys again as mines approach production. Pan Global sits at the earlier stage, with grade and tonnage but no demonstrated economics.

The due diligence starts with two questions: whether ore sorting works at these grades, and whether a neighbor — Los Frailes or Riotinto — would process the material under a tolling or offtake arrangement. The prefeasibility study, if it happens, is where those answers would have to appear.