Scotgold Resources has reported record gold production from its Cononish mine, exceeding previous market guidance.
A second quarter update from the mine, near Tyndrum in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, showed that gold concentrate shipments totalled 415 tonnes, with a sales value of £5m - up by 79%.
Gold concentrate shipments for the first half of this year totalled 551 tonnes, with a sales value of £6.3m.
Gold production totalled 3,531 ounces, a 188% increase on the first quarter, with 7,541 ounces of gold having been produced at Cononish in total.
Crucially, the mine generated cashflows that exceed sustaining costs for the company, with processing plant gold recovery levels above 90%.
The focus for the rest of this year is to enhance resource model to continue to increase gold grade and recoveries in line with management targets.
Optimisation work being conducted during the third quarter should allow further areas of the mine open, with further mining faces being accessed.
Consequently, gold production guidance range for the next quarter has been set at 2,900 to 3,500 ounces of gold.
Scotgold plans to continue exploration activities in and around the current mine and within its licenced 2,900km2 area, in preparation for exploratory drilling in 2023.
The stock exchange update also noted that £2.1m had been drawn from the Fern Wealth Debt Facility for the processing and mine optimisation initiatives.
The revenue earned by Scotgold during the second quarter should enable it to pay for the mine optimisation and tailings thickener initiatives as planned.
Scotgold chief executive Phil Day said: “This has been our strongest quarter yet for Scotgold, characterised by record gold production which exceeded guidance, record gold sales translating into significant cash generation and continued progress on the ground to meet our production and operational targets.
“In the short term, we are focusing on our transitional optimisations at Cononish, undertaking low capex initiatives to continue to drive the production ramp up.
“The recent arrival of our thickener, currently undergoing installation in our process plant, will bolster our throughput of ore, generating further increases in gold concentrate output.
“We remain impressed with Cononish’s high-grade gold geology and anticipate that the operations and cost control discipline of our team will enable the mine to be even more cash generative and profitable as it moves from phase 1 to phase 2 production.”
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