Canadian firm Guyana Goldfields Inc has produced 21,855 ounces of gold so far for the year at its Aurora gold mine in Region Seven with total gold production since September last year being 57,757 ounces.
“Since reaching commercial production on January 1, 2016, the company has produced 21,855 ounces of gold, and sold 22,551 ounces at an average realized price of US$1,155 per ounce generating approximately US$26.1 million in pre-royalty, pre-tax revenue,” the company said in a statement. It added that total overall gold production since September 2015 is 57,757 ounces.
The company said that mining is going well with total material mined for the year exceeding its plan by 27% or 261,749 tonnes. Drilling and blasting of ore and waste is ongoing. Open pit mining at Rory’s Knoll has reached approximately -25 metres below the river level elevation with minimal surface subsidence, as expected, the statement said.
“With commercial production having been achieved and mining and milling throughputs performing above expectations, we will turn our focus to optimizing gold recovery, reducing reagent consumption rates, reducing freight and equipment rental costs, and other continuous improvement initiatives designed to further improve operating efficiencies and reduce costs,” Scott A. Caldwell, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the company was quoted as saying.
The statement said that Guyana Goldfields currently has approximately US$44 million in cash, of which, US$27 million consists of restricted cash.
It was noted that for the year to date, the mill processed an average of 5,083 tonnes of ore per day, of which 74% of the ore processed was composed of hard rock, at an average head grade of 2.83 grams per tonne gold and gold recoveries averaged 89%. All required mill maintenance, including a 36-hour planned maintenance interval, took place during this period.
The company has mined a total of 875,523 tonnes of ore and a total of 725,117 tonnes of ore has been fed to the mill and the remaining tonnes of ore were stored in the stockpile located near the mill, according to the statement. In addition, 2,207,929 tonnes of waste has been mined.
Last month, the Canadian firm announced that it is now in commercial production and hopes to produce between 130 000 and 150 000 ounces of gold at the Aurora mine this year. It had said that it found higher levels of gold than had been projected during operations at the mine last year and it has set aside US$3 million for further exploration this year. Its production for 2015 totaled 35,901 ounces.
Another big mining company, Troy Resources Limited on Sunday also announced that it has achieved commercial production at its Karouni gold project here and less than two months after its first gold pour, the operation is now self-funding. The Australian company has proposed a medium-scale gold mine with a seven-year mine life with annual average gold production of 90,000 ounces, with production in the first 12 months of 102,000 ounces of gold.
Gold exports bring in significant foreign exchange earnings for Guyana and last year gold was the largest earner of foreign currency for the country. Gold declarations for 2015 amounted to 451,490 ounces, representing a 16.5% increase over 2014 figures with Guyana Goldfields and Troy Resources being credited for the increase.
The gold production target this year has been set at 550,000 ounces. However, smuggling of the precious mineral remains of great concern with an estimated 15,000 ounces of gold per week being smuggled out of the country.
