LONDON (ShareCast) - SolGold’s shares surged after announcing it received environmental approval from the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment to begin drilling at the Cascabel copper gold project in Ecuador.

The company said it expects to begin drilling in September at the project, which is 30% owned by SolGold.

The group has mobilised the drill rig about 5km to the Alpala field camp in preparation for drilling.

The drill rig and associated equipment will be mobilised from the Alpala field camp to the Drill Hole 1 pad immediately upon signing of the Environmental License by the Minister.

This final mobilisation is expected to take about a week.

Chief Executive Officer, Alan Martin, said: "This is a very exciting time for SolGold. The Alpala Prospect at Cascabel has the potential to be a company maker, delivering substantial value to SolGold shareholders.

"With most of the major regulatory conditions now satisfied and all equipment mobilised to the Alpala field camp, we are now very close to drilling our first hole through the mineralised stockwork zone at Alpala."

Shares were up 23.78% to 5.08p at 09:55 on Thursday.

RD

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