Centrais Eletricas do Para has approved Altamira's recent application to draw power from an existing transmission line which "runs through" Cajueiro's Central resource area, via the substation.

Altamira says the electricity source - obviating the need for onsite diesel generators - will be sufficient to power the processing plant and mine camp facilities.

"The power will be sourced from an existing 34.5kV transmission line originating from the nearby Teles Pires hydro-electric scheme," the company said.

CEO Michael Bennett said "This prompt approval from CELPA secures grid power for the Cajuiero gold project and marks a major step forward in our overall objective of transforming Altamira Gold from an exploration company to a near-term gold producer and will help the company to fast track the plant construction and begin production in 2021 using an environmentally friendly power supply."

Initial engineering and design work on Cajueiro is expected to be completed by the end of July 2020 with Altamira saying a US$1M payment to Metalstream due under their precious metals purchase agreement was expected to be made on July 14.

Altamira is still collecting bulk samples of oxide ore for "further metallurgical evaluation … to ensure that the plant design is optimised for maximum gold recovery" at laboratories in Brazil and Australia. The latter is for CSIRO testwork to "determine whether fine gold in the oxide ore is amenable to recovery using thiosulphate solution which would avoid the requirement for cyanidation".

Cajueiro has NI 43-101 resources of 5.66Mt grading 1.02g/t gold for 185,000oz indicated and 515,000oz inferred.

Altamira Gold Corp (TSXV: ALTA) has a market capitalisation of C$10.4 million at its last trading price of 10c.