Australian company Troy Resources Limited yesterday announced that it has produced its first gold bar from the Karouni gold project in Region Seven.
Since announcing completion of commissioning in late October, the plant has been running in a stop start mode while the team has been modifying operational aspects and synchronising various components, a release from the company said.
“However, we are pleased to report that all individual systems in the plant are now operating in accordance with design parameters and the mill is performing well with availability now above 90%. At this point in the ramp up cycle, the plant is being run at between 40 to 50% of nominal capacity. The nominal design capacity of 80,000 tonnes per month is scheduled to be achieved in early 2016”, the statement added.
With all systems in the processing plant running normally, Troy said that the next step was to test the gold processing section of the plant from electro-winning through to smelting.
“As a result, the first gold bar has been produced from the gravity circuit, weighing in at just over 4.7kg. Pleasingly, the results show the chemistry of the system to be working without any issues. We are now building up carbon loadings to start producing gold from both the leach and gravity circuits. The plant is currently running with a single furnace enabling a smelting cycle of approximately 3 to 4 days. A second furnace will be brought on line once throughput reaches steady state”, Troy said.
The company’s Execu-tive Director – Project Development, Ken Nilsson was quoted as saying: “We are extremely excited to have poured our first gold bar at Karouni. The plant is fully functional and we are operating at a level slightly ahead of our anticipated ramp up programme.”
The company said it has also embarked on an intensive training programme to instruct the new operational workforce, comprising 96% of Guyanese nationals, in the operation of the plant.
Earlier this year, Cana-dian miner Guyana Goldf-ields poured its first gold bar. Last week, it announc-ed that it has produced over 17,000 ounces of gold so far this year and expects to produce approximately 30,000 ounces for 2015.
Troy and Guyana Goldfields are expected to help significantly boost gold production next year.
