TSX-V-listed Galantas Gold has completed its trial stoping programme at the Cavanacaw gold mine at the Omagh project in county Tyrone, Northern Ireland. This programme has enhanced the company’s understanding of the mine development process and confirmed the viability of using a longhole mining method with backfill at Cavanacaw.

“The trial stoping has provided sufficient information to bring a high level of confidence for a successful stoping programme in the future,” stated CEO Mario Stifano.

Provisional revenues generated from concentrate sales totalled about $1.1-million in 2023 and about $207 000 in the first quarter of this year.  The net proceeds from concentrate sales are being offset against development assets, until the mine begins commercial production.

During the trials, six stopes were successfully mined and backfilled using a narrow vein, modified Avoca longhole open stoping method, in two separate blocks. The trial involved a minimum stope width of 2.2 m planned with stope lengths ranging from 10 m to 15 m.  The vertical distance between the stoping levels was about eight metres from roof to floor. Following the success of the trial, the company plans to increase the distance between levels to 12 m.

Relatively low-grade areas of the mine were selected for the trial to assess the suitability of the mining method and also to serve as a training project for the locally trained mining operators.  A total of 3 175 t of mineralised material was successfully mined from the six stopes during this phase in a safe and controlled manner.

Reconciliation was completed for two of the stopes, and grades returned an average percentage increase of 113% from the grade modelled in the technical report “Resource Estimate, Preliminary Economic Assessment and Detailed Feasibility Study on the Omagh Gold Project, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland” dated July 26, 2014, and filed on September 4, 2014.

The trials led to an optimised cycle of two days from the initial stope blast to completion of backfill, thus reducing the potential for dilution and also streamlining the process. This mining method will now be applied to more than 240 stopes which are already planned for the Kearney and Joshua zones, with grades in the range of 2 g/t gold to 17 g/t gold.