en.Wedoany.com Reported - Tiernan Gold Corp. announced the launch of a comprehensive suite of technical and environmental studies to advance the Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for its Volcan Gold project ("Volcán"), located in the Maricunga Gold Belt of Chile. These work programs are directly informed by the recently completed core relogging program, which confirmed that gold mineralization at Volcán is primarily controlled by vein and alteration intensity, and significantly strengthened the geological framework underpinning the project's Measured and Indicated resource of 9.8 million ounces of gold.
To optimize the Volcán project, the company has engaged selected technical consultants for specific purposes and initiated multiple concurrent work streams across five areas: geology, mining, metallurgy, environmental baseline, and permitting. Each work stream is critical to advancing the project through engineering design and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submission.
Among the ongoing studies, Ausenco continues as the lead PFS consultant, overseeing process engineering, environmental baseline studies, and the preparation of the NI 43-101 technical report. Deswik is responsible for open pit design and optimization, including trade-off analyses. SLR has been engaged to update the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), applying a geologically constrained approach and incorporating the relogging results. SGS has been commissioned to conduct a comprehensive metallurgical testwork program, which has been expanded to 36 variability samples, encompassing full characterization, High-Pressure Grinding Roll (HPGR) assessment, and closed-circuit CIC/SART testing. Gestion Ambiental Consultores (GAC) provides EIA consulting and environmental strategy support, bringing over 35 years of experience within Chile's Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA) and involvement in several major mining projects in the Atacama Region. Additionally, three meteorological, air quality, and dust monitoring stations were successfully installed on site in February 2026, following prior survey permits obtained from Chile's National Forest Corporation (CONAF).
Fausto Di Trapani, President and CEO of the Company, stated that these work streams form a well-considered, coordinated risk-reduction sequence, with the updated mineral resource estimate, metallurgical testwork, mine design, and environmental monitoring all designed to simultaneously support engineering advancement and EIA submission. The relogging program provided a more robust geological foundation, which is now being directly translated into engineering and environmental baseline work.
Regarding the PFS team, Ausenco Chile Ltda. has been engaged as the lead consultant, responsible for integrating the multidisciplinary team and delivering the NI 43-101 technical report. The firm has extensive experience with large open-pit gold projects in Chile and South America and led the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) completed in 2025. Deswik Brasil is responsible for developing the mining component, including trade-off studies for waste dump and low-grade stockpile siting, mine optimization, design, scheduling, and capital and operating cost estimation. The firm has extensive experience in open-pit planning for large-tonnage heap leach gold mines. SLR Consulting (Canada) Ltd. is responsible for updating the Mineral Resource Estimate, incorporating the latest lithological, structural, and alteration domains, which is expected to improve confidence in orebody continuity and grade.
The metallurgical testwork program is being executed by SGS Canada Inc., designed in consultation with Turnstone Metallurgical, and is divided into two phases. Phase 1 involves chemical analysis, XRD mineralogy, and diagnostic leach testing on all 36 variability samples to obtain a complete dataset of the deposit's metallurgical variability. Phase 2 involves coarse bottle roll testing at various crush sizes, comparison of HPGR versus conventional crushing, carbon column adsorption tests, and closed-circuit heap leach, CIC, and SART tests on composite samples, aimed at optimizing gold recovery and providing the basis for PFS process design.
For environmental permitting, GAC has been engaged as a strategic consultant, leveraging its over 35 years of experience within the SEIA framework to support the permitting roadmap for the Volcán project. The consultancy has handled multiple open-pit mining projects in the Atacama Region. Concurrently, as part of the EIA support, three environmental monitoring stations have been installed and are operational, with data to be directly utilized for air quality and meteorological baselines.
About Tiernan Gold Corp., the company is focused on the disciplined risk reduction of the Volcan Gold project. The project is located in the Maricunga Gold Belt in the Atacama Region of Chile, an area with a long mining history, hosting multiple operating mines, new mines under construction, and large-scale projects in development.
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