In 2000, Corporación Minera Centauro acquired the ownership of the Quicay concessions and rapidly started exploration work in the area. In the same year, the environmental permit was obtained to exploit and process gold ore from Quicay, together with the corresponding permit to use the surface land from the Local Community Santa Ana de Pacoyán

 

Corporación Minera Centauro’s prior know-how as a mining constructor facilitated the development and construction of the Quicay Mine. The works of Engineering, Design, Permits, Construction and Operation were entirely executed by the company. Additionally, well-known national suppliers were employed for punctual tasks.

 

Operations in Quicay started in 2002 with a processing capacity of the metallurgical plant of 5,000 MT/day which was progressively increased to 7,490 MT/day. At the beginning of operations, it was considered that Quicay had merely 150,000 ounces of gold reserves with an estimated operational lifespan of 2 years. However, as a result of Corporación Minera Centauro's continuous exploration works, it was able to extract from Quicay more than 600,000 ounces of gold during a much longer operational lifespan than expected : from the years 2002 to 2011.

 

Currently, the Quicay Mine has ended its operational lifespan. Since 2013, Corporación Minera Centauro has been duly executing the activities regarding the Progressive Mine Closure stage. However, due to the ongoing exploration work in the Quicay Pit area (also known as Quicay I project) the Mine Closure schedule had to be postponed: the scheduled dates for completion of the Progressive and Final Mine Closure have been modified.