New Gold Inc. has completed its first gold pour at the Rainy River mine, and the company's commissioning plans remain on schedule.
The first pour yielded approximately 500 oz of gold and 600 oz of silver.
"Our team is proud to have delivered on all of the key project milestones since the beginning of 2017, however, the first gold pour is a particularly special one for New Gold and its stakeholders," stated Hannes Portmann, President and CEO. "This achievement is reflective of a true team effort as it would not have been possible without the commitment and resilience of our workforce as well as the strong support of our local communities and Indigenous partners – thank you."
The Rainy River mine began processing ore on schedule on 14 September 2017. Since then, the company has successfully processed approximately 290 000 t of ore. Inclusive of four days of intentional downtime as part of the commissioning plan, this translates to an average processing rate of almost 14 000 tpd, or 67% of the 21 000 tpd nameplate capacity. At the same time, the mining rate through September has continued to track on plan, which has enabled the mine to deliver the scheduled quantities of ore to the mill.