Scotgold Resources Ltd, Scotland’s first commercial gold producer, has published its 2Q22 production, sales, and operations update for the three months ended 30 June 2022, for its Cononish gold and silver mine.
Gold sales
- 2Q22 gold concentrate shipments totalled 415 t with a sales value of £5.0 million (79% of 1H22).
- 1H22 gold concentrate shipments totalled 551 t with a sales value of £6.3 million.
Cononish gold production
- 2Q22 gold production totalled 3531 oz, a 188% increase to 1Q22.
- 2Q22 exceeded guidance being 2600 to 3200 oz.
- 7541 oz of gold have been produced at Cononish in total, 3531 oz in the last quarter (47% of the total).
- Record gold concentrate production in June 2022 – 164 t of concentrate processed equating to approximately 1339 oz of contained gold approximately 17% increase to previous concentrate production record in April 2022.
- Gold grades in flotation concentrate of up to 400g/t realised during 2Q22.
- Commercial production achieved.
- Cononish generated cashflows that exceed all-in sustaining costs for the company.
Q2 mining and processing
- 5112 t of ore were delineated from the Cononish underground mine and transferred to ROM pad.
- Grade mill feed for processing plant averaged 19 g/t of gold.
- Processing plant gold recovery levels were above 90%.
Plant optimisation and mine development
- Pre-constructed tailings thickener is on-site – expected installation during 3Q22.
- Cut and fill – stoping mining method progressing well to continue to improve production profile – third cut and fill stope targeted for 3Q22.
- 2022 focus to enhance resource model/mine plan management to continue to increase gold grade/recoveries in line with management targets.
- As a direct result of opening up the mine through development mining achieved in 1Q22, the gold grades mined in 2Q22 were higher than anticipated. Mine optimisation work being conducted in 3Q22 will continue to allow further areas of the mine open and even further mining faces being accessed.
Cononish growth
- Grade control drilling and mine development will continue to increase the short-range geological understanding in 3Q22, further improving grade reconciliation to reserve. The scheduled commissioning of key optimisation initiatives in 3Q22, which include the thickener and mine power and ventilation upgrades are expected to deliver increased mill throughput and mining rates. Consequently, gold production guidance range for 3Q22 has been set at 2900 – 3500 oz of gold.
- Low capex optimisation initiatives, including the addition of a thickener into the tailings circuit, are underway to allow the process plant to process up to 4500 feed tonnes and achieve an optimisation phase production run rate of approximately 16 000 – 17 500 oz p.a. run rate of gold.
- As part of the company’s vision to grow, Scotgold plans to continue exploration activities in and around its current Cononish mine and within its licenced 2900 km2 area in preparation for exploratory drilling in 2023.
Financials
- £2.1 million Fern Wealth Debt Facility drawn for the processing and mine optimisation initiatives. The revenue earnt by Scotgold in 2Q22 will enable the company to pay for the mine optimisation and tailings thickener initiatives as planned.
- Commercial production achievement
- As previously disclosed in each of the company’s recent annual reports, the Directors considered commercial production to have been reached when the company experienced three consecutive months of positive operating cash flow.
- This occurred on 30 June 2022 and therefore we consider the company to be in commercial production from 1 July 2022 onwards.
CEO comments
Phil Day, Scotgold Resources CEO, 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. Furthermore, with our 2022 mine development work, we continue to move rapidly towards phase 2 production levels of 23 500 oz run rate of gold.
“Our team are performing exceptionally well and, together, have facilitated the achievement of our forecasted results. 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.”