TriStar set to obtain environmental license for US$260mn gold project

US-based TriStar Gold aims to obtain the environmental license for its US$261mn Castelo de Sonhos gold project in Brazil's Pará state in Q3.

“The TriStar team met with the regulators at the environmental secretariat (Semas) of Pará state in Belém to confirm the status and timelines for receipt of the license,” the company said in a statement.

“The Semas licensing team informed us that the Castelo de Sonhos project is at the top of the line for EIA review. They remain committed to a technical site visit in March 2023, which is the next major milestone event, to review our environmental management and social engagement practices, and confirm the findings of the EIA,” it added.

The company requested the license in July 2022. Evaluations are also underway for the installation license, allowing building the processing plant and infrastructure, and the operations license.

TriStar has advanced work on cave relevance studies and will be initiating detailed archeological studies.

The environmental licensing stage is critical as it involves several government agencies as well as local stakeholders and details environmental, social and economic impacts and benefits, the company said.

Initial capex increased from US$184mn due to expanded plant capacity, the inclusion of an owner-operated mining fleet and rising costs, according to the most recent prefeasibility study from 2021. Average production is estimated at 121,000oz/y over 11 years.