The company has obtained rights to construct a second mineral processing plant and said its location will "benefit greatly" from the use of a regional artisanal firm, though the selected firm was not named.

"Newlox has a strong relationship with the artisanal mining community from working together on the company's first project, the artisanal tailings remediation and gold recovery facility, operating since June of 2019 and regularly producing gold," the Vancouver-based miner said.

"Artisanal mining in the area provides a steady supply of tailings feedstock to Newlox's first processing plant and the miners are keen to expand the relationship to raw ore processing."

As the concession is permitted, the new mill should be able to be rapidly installed and commissioned, it added. The timeline for completion was not provided.

Newlox said the venture will replace the current process, which is inefficient and laborious, while also supplementing its tailings reprocessing and remediation business with a system that is mercury-free.

"Our team is excited to join in this venture, the first of several agreements to eliminate the use of mercury by local artisanal miners," president Ryan Jackson said. "The transition to modern processing technologies will provide economic, environmental, and social benefits to all stakeholders, especially the artisanal miners themselves."