TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Vancouver-based Petaquilla Minerals poured the first gold at its wholly-owned Molejon mine, in Panama, on April 7, as part of the commissioning process.

Pit site preparation and the testing of production equipment at Molejon got under way in January, and the firm has since begun testing the gold-room recovery processes.

Petaquilla expects that the processing facility will reach its full rated capacity of 2 200 t/d in June.

The Molejon mine is expected to produce 100 000 oz of gold during its first full year of production.

Petaquilla also said on Thursday that it continues to work with the Panamanian environmental agency Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente (Anam), “to ensure an orderly transition from pre-production to the commencement of commercial production”.

The company reported in November that, although the environmental impact study for the project had been approved, Anam had mandated a number of measures that must be taken by the company, in addition to its existing plans.

However, after reviewing the conditions, Petaquilla said that some of the measures were “inapplicable” to the Molejon operation, and that others had already been satisfied by the company.

The firm subsequently established a special working group to cooperate with Anam, to ensure that all conditions are satisfied or waived, so that full commercial production can begin as scheduled.

Shares in Petaquilla Minerals rose 14,6% on Thursday, to C$0,51 apiece by 15:45 in Toronto.