Scotgold Resources Ltd recorded Q1 production lower than guidance at the company’s gold and silver Cononish mine, near Tyndrum in Scotland.
PRODUCTION
Gold production totalled 1,257 gold ounces (guidance of 1,400 – 2,200 oz) and process plant feed throughput was some 3,000 tonnes.
Circa 8,600 tonnes of ore was mined and transferred to run of mine (ROM) feed pad, with an average gold content of 7.7 g/t.
OPERATIONS
Scotgold developed tunnels to allow access to further areas of the mine where high grade ore exists, which meant lower grade ore were processed during the period.
The company achieved access to the ‘cut and fill 2’ (CAF2) stope area at Cononish after developing the mine a further 325 metres.
The first cut of the CAF2 stope saw 2,700 tonnes of ore at an average of 20 g/t of gold mined and transferred to ROM pad, most of which will be processed during April 2022.
COVID
Scotgold said that Covid continued to interrupt the business, particularly in early Q1 2022, with up to ten employees in quarantine at any given time.
SALES
Gold concentrate gold and shipments for totalled 175 tonnes with a sales value of £1.6m.
Gold concentrate is sold directly to Scotgold’s off-take partner MRI Trading AG. Shipping of concentrate was affected in late February until April due to global events.
Cash revenue was also affected as the company receives funds only upon concentrate shipment loading.
Q2 GUIDANCE
Q2 2022 gold production guidance range is for 2,600 to 3,200 ounces of gold.