SCOTGOLD has hailed “substantial progress” towards mining at a rate of over 20,000 ounces of gold a year.
Scotland’s first commercial gold producer underlined its expectation of a “significant step change” in production at the Cononish mine in Argyll.
It has forecast that output in the fourth quarter will be ahead of the same period last year after producing 2,004 ounces of gold in the three months to September 30, in line with revised guidance.
Scotgold produced gold concentrate shipments totalling 314 tonnes with a sales value of £3.4 million in quarter three.
It said the reduced guidance for the quarter came after “the successful but delayed” power and ventilation upgrades in the underground mine.
In the nine months to September 30, gold production totalled 6,759 ounces.
READ MORE: Scottish gold mine free cash flow of £13m per year
Production guidance was set at 3,000 to 3,900 ounces of gold for the next quarter.
The company also remains on track to deliver second phase full production at Cononish of 23,500 ounces annual rate across the last quarter of this year and the first quarter of next.
Gold concentrate shipments totalled 729 tonnes with a sales value of £9.7m over nine months, while processing plant gold recovery levels were above 90 per cent. Underground power and ventilation upgrades were completed and improve access, operations and increase mining rate and ore extraction.
Risk assessments, planning and the preparation to transition the mine to long hole stoping in the first quarter of next year are expected to be completed by December, “marking another milestone in the development of the underground mine”.
A tailings thickener is being set up the processing plant with planned commissioning during the fourth quarter to “enable smooth implementation inline with increased throughput of ore from debottlenecking initiative”.
It said exploration preparation works under way for 2023 resource drilling campaign to increase life of mine beyond 8.5 years.
Also during the third quarter, Scotgold started very low frequency magnetics “to help structurally identify and optimise a potential 2023 resource drilling campaign”.
The month-long programme, completed this month, which consisted of defining magnetic susceptibility and rock conductivity over a grid of 25m in the Cononish Glen, will allow Scotgold to define vein structures and potential future drilling targets.
Phil Day, Scotgold Resources chief executive, said the third quarter “has been another period of substantial progress as we continue to implement optimisation initiatives across our underground mining operation and processing plant to ramp up towards ‘Phase 2/Full’ production at Cononish in 2023”.
He said: “As a team we are working collegiately and remain driven as the new year approaches. Q4 2022 production is anticipated to be ahead of Q2/Q3 2022 production levels, and I believe the quarter will mark a significant step change as we progress towards a processing rate of 5,000tpcm, equating to an annualised production of 20,000 ounces of gold per annum run rate, once the tailings thickener has been commissioned in the processing plant.
“In tandem underground resource definition and grade control drilling is underway to prepare for long hole stoping to commence in Q1 2023, which will enable the mine to produce ore at the phase two production level being 6,000tpcm. From here, final optimisation initiatives will be undertaken in the process plant to deliver a processing run rate of 6,000tpcm, equating to an annualised production run-rate of c.+23,500 ounces of gold, which we are on target to deliver in 2023.
“What differentiates us from our gold peers is the uniqueness of Cononish’s orebody. Running an average grade through the processing plant of 12g/t Au year to date 2022, coupled with a forecast low AISC of £544 per ounce of gold will place us as one of the highest margins, lowest cost gold producers globally. This coupled with our exploration opportunity in Scotland, I believe ideally places us for growth. I look forward to reporting on production, operational progress and further revenue generation into the New Year.”
Shares in Scotgold closed at 63.5p, down 0.79% , or 0.5p.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel