Scotgold Resources Ltd said that production revenues have exceeded operating costs for the first time at the Cononish gold-silver mine near Tyndrum in Scotland.
REVENUES
The company reported that two shipments of gold concentrate completed during August.
These were just over 50 tonnes of concentrate at an average of 333g/t Au per tonne, equating to >450oz of contained gold and >1,900oz of contained silver total production for the month.
OPERATIONS
During August, mining continued uninterrupted at Cononish focusing on the high-grade area of the vein and development to access future reserves.
The company’s interim vertical cut and fill stoping method will continue until the long term production plan begins in 2022.
The second DUX truck ordered is now expected to arrive in early September.
Scotgold is also assessing an upward adjustment to its previous mine plan based on the continually improving tonnages and combined with the average >12g/t gold grade expected during the following months in 2021.
PROCESSING
Scotgold’s processing plant team expects to de-bottleneck the tailings filter during September to support the company’s production profile targeting processing capacity of 4,000 tonnes per month.
“The processing plant operated for 25 days during the month of which the last 21 days feed rate averaged 90 tonnes per day,” said the company in a statement.
“The monthly feed rate estimate for August is between 2,100 and 2,200 tonnes (70% to 73% of design for full month).
“This included an unplanned six-day shutdown from 4th-10th August, these planning issues have now been addressed and unnecessary shutdowns will now be avoided.”
The company aims to recruit additional mining and processing plant operatives, as well as purchasing and warehouse staff.
Chief executive officer Phil Day said that everything was going according to the company’s overall strategy to be a consistent and stable producer.