Scotgold Resources Ltd reported the second cut, allowing access to reserve mine gold grade and greater future revenues, at its Cononish gold-silver mine near Tyndrum in Scotland.
FINANCES H2 2021
The company reported the news in its interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2021.
Revenues were A$6.4 million (£3.6m) compared with H1 2021 of nil.
Loss before taxation was A$5.3m (H1 2021: A$2.8m) and cash at 31 December 2021 stood at A$963k (30 June 2021: A$2.6m).
2022 MINE DEVELOPMENT
Chief executive Phil Day said that Scotgold was undergoing a transformative period.
“During the past quarter we have been focused on preparing the access to the second cut and fill stope at Cononish and I’m pleased to report we accessed it as of 21 March 2022.
“This is a pivotal moment in our mine development plan, allowing us to access reserve mine gold grade more readily, which should see our gold grades increase significantly inline with our mine plan during 2022 and beyond.”
The company’s gold production target is 23,500oz pa by the end of Q1 2023.
2022 OPERATIONS
Scotgold has completed Phase I of production development at Cononish, achieving 9,910oz average run rate of gold production per annum.
Chairman Peter Hetherington said that the company’s forthcoming optimisation phase would include talks with debt providers to target an average annual run rate of gold production of 17,500oz.
| Phased Production Development | Expected to commence by end | Annual Rate of Ore Production | Target Average Annual Rate of Gold Production |
| Phase 1 | Q1 2022 | 36,000 tonnes | 9,910oz |
| Optimisation Phase Production | Q2 2022 | 51,000 tonnes | 17,500oz |
| Phase2/Expansion Phase | Q1 2023 | 72,000 tonnes | 23,500oz |
Scotgold will also introduce a tailings thickener, “a cost-effective technology to improve the throughput and recoveries of concentrate product in the processing plant”.
The company is still awaiting a due diligence report on installation of an ore sorter at the processing plant between the existing crushing unit and the mill.
“We believe, if installed, it will increase the ounces of gold processed per tonne at lower tonnages and potentially lower CAPEX and OPEX of Cononish,” added Mr Hetherington.
“If approved, the ore sorter is planned to be operational by the end of Q1 2023 and will help achieve Phase II/expansion production development with the target of achieving average annual run rate gold production of 23,500oz.”
ESGs
The company said it uses no cyanide at Cononish and implements dry stack tailings rather than conventional wet tailings.
“Dry stack tailings are much more environmentally friendly and safer as it completely dries the tailings into sand like material before placing into gullies,” added Mr Hetherington.
“This allows us to fill the gullies to match the natural landscape rather than have impoundments (as with conventional tailings) that would impact the look of the landscape for generations to come.
Scotgold is also reviewing the use of hydro power to reduce CO2 emissions.
The company’s workforce has increased from 73 people as at 31 December to 93 as of 28 February 2022.
Scotgold holds 13 licences covering 2,900km of the Dalradian Belt and has identified three prospective areas close to Cononish.