Scotgold Resources announces final results

Overview

Ramping up production at Scotland's first commercial gold mine:

• Significant progress made at Cononish Gold and Silver Mine in Scotland as the company targets production of approximately 23 500 oz/yr run rate of gold by 1Q23.
• New management team appointed in April 2021 to spearhead Cononish expansion and optimisation.
  • A redesign of the 2021 mine schedule/design was completed in May 2021 to allow for faster access to higher grade zones within the ore body.
  • Completed modifications and upgrades on the process plant and identified and purchased critical and required spare parts for the processing plant.
  • Implemented maintenance planning practices.
  • Formed strategic alliances with suppliers and engineering/fabrication shops within Scotland and the UK.
  • Phase 1 ramp up due to be completed end December 2021 with November and December 2021 production in line with management’s targets.
  • Gravity gold production remains on track with a delivery to the refiners completed in December.
• As of August 2021, Scotgold has consistently achieved production revenues that exceed operational costs.
• Operational and strategy update will be made in January 2022 with Cononish optimisation initiatives for 2022 and production guidance.
• Vision to build a multi-asset gold production company in Scotland – three prospective areas, close to Cononish, being identified as high priority target areas with data modelling in progress to establish the best sites to test these targets in any potential future exploration drill programmes.

Scotgold Resources CEO, Phil Day, said: “Considerable progress has been made during 2021 at our flagship Cononish mine in Scotland, seeing us successfully ramp up production, in line with our accelerated expansion plan to achieve production of approximately 23 500 oz/yr run rate of gold production by 1Q23.

“Since joining as CEO in April 2021, with a newly appointed leadership team at the helm, we have been focused on building our foundations to accelerate growth for the future as Scotland’s first commercial gold mining company. We have done this on several fronts. Firstly, investing in the Scotgold team, with our headcount increasing 92% from 38 to 73 in December 2021, with the intention to grow our team further in 2022. Importantly we have focused on the optimisation of our processing plant and mine development plan to increase the production rate of both our gravity concentrate gold which produces gold doré for the Scottish jewellery market and our high-grade concentrate where we have an established off-take agreement.

“We’ve concentrated on de-bottlenecking and the availability of our process plant through maintenance practises and planning and in October 2021 we successfully completed the Ball Mill reline. As I write this, we are consistently achieving production revenues that exceed operational costs. December production currently looks to be another step change higher than previous months, further demonstrating the significant strides we’re making as a team.

“Our Cononish underground gold mine has a world-class ore-body. It is exceptionally high-grade with grades running as high as 20 g/t gold (Au), allowing us to run the processing plant with an average mine feed of approximately 12 g/t Au to date, which is expected to increase in line with our mine expansion plans. As a high margin operation, Cononish has compelling economics with forecast operating costs anticipated at £544/oz AISC, once in full production, which places Cononish in the lowest quartile of gold mining operations globally.

“It’s our intention to increase our current mine life of 8.5 years as detailed in the strategic review and believe there is potential to develop Cononish into a +18-year life of mine operation. In addition, it is our strategy to continue to explore our additional licence areas which run across the prospective Grampian area of Scotland – the Caledonides Mobile Belt, with the ultimate vision of building a mid-tier gold mining company in Scotland with multiple operations in the country that enhance the local environment and economy in ways that have an enduring positive impact.

“I’m excited for 2022 and I’m confident it will be a year of continued growth for the company. I would like to thank the team for their commitment and dedicated work, our local community, government partners and shareholders for their continued support and look forward to updating the market in the New Year with our 2022 strategy.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/finance-business/22122021/scotgold-resources-announces-final-results/