JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – West African gold producer Avesoro Resources achieved record production at its New Liberty gold mine, in Liberia, and its Youga and Balogo gold mines, in Burkina Faso, in the quarter ended March 31.
The company on Monday said the 68 088 oz of gold produced in the quarter is in line with full-year production guidance of 220 000 oz to 240 000 oz of gold at an operating cash cost of between $620/oz to $660/oz.
New Liberty produced a record 27 870 oz of gold – an increase of 9% on the previous quarter. Plant optimisations were completed during the quarter, including the commissioning of a tertiary crusher, which increased the crushing circuit’s throughput by 17% to 140 000 t a month, and the installation of a second gravity concentrator.
Youga and Balogo produced 40 218 oz of gold, an increase of 39% on the previous quarter, which also represented the highest quarterly production rate achieved at the Youga process plant since it was commissioned in February 2008.
“Recoveries at Youga improved, compared with the fourth quarter in 2017. Avesoro expects this to continue, with the addition of a new PSA oxygen plant in the coming weeks,” said Avesoro CEO Serhan Umurhan.
He added that the company’s near-mine exploration campaign is well under way across the three mines, and delivering encouraging results that suggest the potential to significantly increase mine lives.