Emerita looks back at the past to conquer the future

At present, the mining situation in Spain’s southern Andalusia region, especially the Iberian Pyrite Belt, is more than promising. Proof of this fact is the expansion of the sector based on the interest shown by major, worldwide mining companies involved in both mining and research projects in this area.

This is due to an abundance of metals, including copper, zinc, and lead, as well as gold and silver in the region’s subsurface. Such metals are essential and strategic for decarbonization as society moves towards becoming less dependent on fossil fuels.

Emerita Resources, a Canadian natural resources company engaged in the acquisition, prospection and development of mining projects is but one of the firms investing in Andalusia. Emerita’s research project, known as Iberian Belt West (IBW), is located between the towns of Puebla de Guzman and Paymogo (Huelva, Spain). There some 200 people involved, including geologists, geophysicists, geochemists, drillers and other specialists, who have been working on this project since August of 2021.

Of these, 130 employees are working on the boreholes, while more than 40 work at the test plant and offices in Puebla de Guzman and Seville. This, at the same time, has generated employment synergies thanks to the activities in the aforementioned municipalities.

Emerita has research permits for the thirteen drilling rigs working around the clock, 24 hours a day in two shifts, on 1,545 hectares (just over 3817 acres). Historically, it is one of the most important and longest operating metallogenic belts in the world, and IBW sits within it. It is distributed in three areas: La Infanta, El Cura and La Romanera.

According to geologist and manager of the Emerita prospections, Oscar A. Jeldres, the three main areas researched contain polymetallic deposits. They are all in the prospection phase, which is prior to any type of development or production. The goal is to “identify mineralized bodies, estimate resources and study the feasibility to move onto the extraction phase.” For now, the results are “very promising as they allow us to keep the door open to future extractions.”

In 2021, TSX Venture 50 listed the company as one of the top-ten mining companies.

Joaquin Martin, general manager Emerita Resources España points out that, “Detecting these high grade precious metals at La Romanera greatly increases our confidence in the economic potential of IBW as it increases the value of the historical results managed. Past drilling companies operating in this same area of Western Andevalo did not analyzed the composition for gold.” Jeldres adds that “we have found a deposit with exceptional characteristics.”

The Canadian firm—it will continue drilling to a 1,000 meters deep—has already applied for eight new research permits for the 10,110 hectare (approximately 24983 acres) IBW area. Emerita’s other project in the Pyrite Belt—known as Nuevo Tintillo—is 4.5 times larger than IBW. This privileged, 6,875 hectare (16,988 acres) area is in the province of Seville. Thanks to a permit granted in June of 2022, Emerita has already performed an aerial geophysical survey of the area.