JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aureus mining has announced the start of gold sales and initial mining and processing operations from the 8.5-million-ton New Liberty gold mine, in Liberia, after achieving nameplate capacity at the gold plant in mid-July.

The company disclosed in an operational update on Monday that the operation was on track to declare commercial production in the fourth quarter of the year, once the mill had operated at an average of 60% or more of the designed production capacity calculated over a 60-day period. 

The mine’s processing plant had, to date, processed 52 310 t of run-of-mine ore at an average feed grade of 3.6 g/t and at average gold recovery of 89%.

Aureus noted that mining operations had initially been hampered owing to the limited availability of explosives, but this had since been addressed. 

During the plant commissioning phase, the company sent four gold doré shipments for smelting and refining in Switzerland, resulting in sales of 4 881 oz of gold at an average price of $1 119/oz.

Plant processing operations were now focused on optimising reagent consumption, grind size and gold recoveries, while the miner was preparing to implement an updated mine plan, which included the earlier deployment of additional mining equipment.

Aureus president and CEO David Reading described the first commercial exporting and sales of gold from Liberia as an important milestone in the overall evolution of New Liberty, marking the beginning of revenue generation for the company. 

“The progress being made is very encouraging, with early operations confirming the high grades at New Liberty and good recoveries, despite the typical teething problems associated with commissioning a new gold mine,” he commented.

New Liberty was expected to have an eight-year life and produce 119 000 oz/y for the first six years.