Commissioning activities at Troy Resources Limi-ted’s large-scale Karouni Gold Project in Region Seven are expected to commence this month, according to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Martin Purvis.
“Commissioning activities at Karouni are expected to commence later this month and we look forward to updating shareholders of this progress,” Purvis said, according to a press statement from the Australian company on Tuesday. The company had announced that it had raised US$35 million from selling shares.
“We would like to thank our existing shareholders for their strong support and welcome a number of new institutions to the register. Funds raised will enable us to fast track exploration activities at Karouni where preparations are well underway for drilling to commence at priority targets in Q1 FY 2016,” Purvis was quoted as saying.
Troy Resources also announced that it has raised an additional US$2.93 million from its share purchase plan. The funds raised will be applied towards a “significant, brownfields exploration campaign at Karouni” as well as provide working capital for the build-up of full scale mining operations and commissioning of the processing plant at Karouni. The funds would also strengthen the company’s balance sheet to provide financial flexibility.
Earlier this year, the firm’s Executive Director – Project Development Ken Nilsson had told Stabroek News that the company is accelerating preparations to start producing and selling gold from its large-scale Karouni Gold Project, Region Seven by July. “The actual sale of gold is likely to start sometime in July with buildup of internal stock starting sometime in June, all contingent on the weather and the timely release of imported goods,” he had said.
Troy has proposed a medium-scale gold mine designed to produce up to 110,000 ounces of gold per annum based on an average overall recovery of 92% at the Black Water Creek, Kaburi Area, in Region Seven. The mine will be focused on the recovery of ore for processing from Smarts and Hicks gold deposits. The project components include an open cut mine, processing plant, tailings storage facility, mine site accommodation and additional infrastructure required to recover and to process ore for the recovery of gold.
For the past few years, gold has been a mainstay of Guyana’s economy and the precious mineral is the largest earner of foreign exchange but declarations from small and medium scale producers are on the decline after miners, confronted with a variety of factors including a drop in gold prices, exited the sector.
Gold declarations for the first two months of this year have plunged by almost 40%, according to data from the Guyana Gold Board and with less gold being exported earnings have also dropped significantly. Gold declarations and earnings have been on a downward spiral since last year following a record high in 2013. However, two large scale gold operators –Troy and Guyana Goldfields – are set to begin gold-recovery operations this year and this could likely mitigate the impact of the drop in declarations from small and medium-scale producers.
