Alio Gold re-aligns capability to focus on mine operations

Recently, the company announced the temporary suspension of exploration and development work at its Ana Paula project in Mexico and a commitment to focus its efforts and capital allocation on its two operating mines, San Francisco and Florida Canyon in Mexico. The company is aligning its capability to support these efforts. As a result, Paul Hosford, Vice President of Project Development, and the Project Manager, Terry Murphy, will be leaving the company on 31 August 2018. The company has also taken steps to reduce costs at the Ana Paula project site while maintaining a level of local employment and community engagement.

"We would like to thank Paul and his development team for their efforts in advancing Ana Paula," said Greg McCunn, CEO. "We have increased our knowledge of the project greatly over the last year and made significant improvements to the infrastructure which will make it simpler to resume work when we are in a position to do so."

In addition, Colette Rustad, Chief Financial Officer, has left the company on 17 August 2018.

"Colette was brought on last year to lead the arrangement of CAN$100 million in debt financing and put all the financial systems in place to build a mine," Greg McCunn added. "We made excellent progress on those efforts, but the decline in gold price and the equity capital market conditions are not supportive of advancing the Ana Paula project at this time. We wish Colette all the best in her future endeavours."

Ian Harcus, currently Corporate Controller, has been appointed Vice President Finance and will lead the finance function for the company. In conjunction with this, the company has also implemented a number of changes at its corporate office in Vancouver which in total are expected to reduce the corporate overhead by approximately CAN$1.2 million over the next 12 months.

Technical capability is now being aligned under Doug Jones, Chief Operating Officer, as the company focuses on the technical review of the San Francisco mining operations in Sonora, Mexico. The objective of the review is to improve understanding and mining operations in the San Francisco pit aiming at reduced mining dilution and improved grades feeding the crushing circuit ahead of heap leaching. At Florida Canyon, the company has begun implementing new management systems and processes as part of the integration process. Joe Campbell, the current General Manager at San Francisco, will be moving into the General Manager role at Florida Canyon to lead these changes. The new life of mine plan and supporting technical report for Florida Canyon is on track for completion by the end of this year.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/21082018/alio-gold-re-aligns-capability-to-focus-on-mine-operations/