Inception Mining says its Honduran subcontractor, Equipos, Desarrollos, e Inversiones S de RL (EDI), has moved onsite to its Clavo Rico gold project, in Honduras, and expects a start up of its crushing circuit no later than October 30.

EDI says it has already begun various operations within the mine site such as road expansion, run-of-mill processing, open-pit maintenance, and tailings removal from the leach pad to the holding pad, putting it in line for the start up.

The Clavo Rico gold project features a heap leach facility and on-site ADR plant.

The Honduran contractor has a successful track record in both iron ore mines as well as precious metals operations, providing a full complement of services, according to Inception.

At Clavo Rico it will excavate, haul, and crush ore to the predetermined size, using US-made equipment. This equipment is of a newer and larger calibre than previously installed, Inception said, and should easily handle the expected 750-1,000 t/d (with a crushing capacity to 2,000 t/d of ore required to meet Inception’s production requirements.

“The per tonne cost is significantly lower, and the quality equipment and fewer breakdowns should increase recovery percentages with consistent crushing size,” the company said.

Trent D’Ambrosio, CEO of Inception, said: “Awarding the contract to EDI will give the company the capacity to continue our expansion and increase total tonnage to an expected 230,000 tons/y.

This expected increase will exceed the 2017 (90,356 tons) and 2018 (91,931 tons) rates and will provide a more consistent crushing size, with the potential to increase recovery.”