Turkey-focused, Canada-incorporated Alacer Gold has marked a “significant step change” in the third quarter, as its cornerstone organic growth initiative, the sulphide expansion project at its Çöpler mine, in Turkey, was brought on line and is now being prepared for first autoclave start up.

In its third-quarter operating and financial results announcement, Alacer president and CEO Rod Antal said on Tuesday that the first autoclave at the Çöpler sulphide plant was being acid cured and that it would begin processing sulphide ore this week.

The second autoclave would come on line shortly after the first one.

“We will deliver the sulphide plant well under budget and within weeks of the original schedule set in 2016, which is a fantastic outcome,” he commented.

The capital cost estimate of the project has been reduced from $744-million to $660-million.

The newly constructed plant in September started processing oxide ore and will achieve commercial production in early 2019.

At the end of September, sulphide stockpiles were 9.2-million tonnes at an average grade of 3.29 g/t gold, or about one-million contained gold ounces.

The sulphide plant will add 20 years of production to Çöpler, which has been operating since 2010 as a heap leach operation processing oxide ore. The miner is accelerating the expansion of the existing capacity of the heap leach pad to 58-million tonnes to maximise the processing capacity of known oxide ore reserves.

Alacer is also advancing plans to grow its production in the Çöpler region through the Çakmaktepe project. The company has received the revised environmental impact assessment and operating permit for Çakmaktepe in the quarter.

Çakmaktepe, which is 50:50 owned by Alacer and Lidya Mining, is expected to produce 50 000 oz next year.

Alacer reported a 33% year-on-year decrease in production during the third quarter to 26 160 oz, at an all-in sustaining cost of $626/oz of oxide sold. The lower production was as a result of an increase in heap leach inventory and the timing of gold pours.

Year-to-date production was 14% lower than the corresponding period of 2017, at 89 233 oz. The miner expects to achieve the lower end of its consolidated production guidance of 160 000 oz to 230 000 oz for the year.

Meanwhile, Alacer reported a net loss of $27.14-million, compared with a profit of $29.12-million a year earlier, citing the depreciation of the lira.

Alacer has a primary listing on the TSX and a secondary listing on the ASX.