DPM Metals (ASX:DPM) said it paused its 23,000-meter drilling program at the Loma Larga gold project in Ecuador, which was previously expected to begin in the second half of the year, after media statements by officials in September indicated that the government would initiate a process to suspend the project's environmental license, according to a Monday Australian bourse filing.

The statements were in response to stakeholders in the city of Cuenca expressing concerns regarding the environmental performance of the project. The environmental license for the project was issued by the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Ecological Transition in the second quarter.

The firm also updated the feasibility study for the project, based on underground mining, with ore to be processed using a crushing, grinding, and flotation circuit to process around 1.2 million tonnes of ore per annum, producing copper and pyrite concentrates.

The initial capital costs are estimated to be AU$593 million, while after-tax cash flow is anticipated to be AU$895 million, with a life-of-mine average all-in sustaining cost of AU$873 per ounce of gold sold.

Its shares rose above 1% in recent trading on Monday.