History of Salave

Ancient Roman historical workings at Salave, through to WW2-era molybdenum workings and more recent modern exploration work.

Gold mining, in the vicinity of Salave and other areas in Asturias, dates to the Romans in the 1st century AD. The Ancient Romans mined 2 to 6 million tonnes of the oxidised part of the Salave Deposit in that period with an approximate recovery of between 5,000 to 7,000 kilograms of gold.

In the 1940s, mining was attempted to extract molybdenum from quartz veins from shallow underground drifts.

Modern exploration in the late 1960s recognised the Salave area as a prospective mineral area with Northgate Exploration Limited, Rio Tinto, Goldfields South Africa, Anglo American Corporation of South Africa Limited and related Charter Consolidated P.L.C.; Oromet Joint Venture; Empresa Minera Newmont Inc. San Diego Gold Minery, S.A and Rio Narcea Gold Mines, Ltd.

From Northgate drilling in 1970-1971 through to Rio Narcea in 2004-2005, at least 325 core holes and 139 percussion/reverse circulation holes were drilled on the property; this historic drilling totaled 65,965.5 meters.

Astur acquired the Salave property in 2010. Since December 2011, Astur Gold Corp. has drilled 3,031 meters in infill drilling to upgrade the resources in preparation for the completion of a feasibility study.

In October 2016, Astur Gold was renamed Black Dragon Gold Corp.