PERTH (mininwgeekly.com) – Junior miner Crater Gold Mining has started mining at its High Grade Zone (HGZ) project, at the Crater Mountain mine, in Papua New Guinea.
The start of mining at Crater Mountain comes in the wake of Crater securing a mining lease, and successfully concluding a compensation agreement with the landowners.
“We anticipate producing some 100 000 oz of gold in the year ahead, at an all-in cash cost of below A$400/oz over the mining lease term, positioning the mine within the lowest quartile in terms of operating cost,” said Crater CEO Greg Starr.
He added that the mining lease enabled the company to continue mining over the next five years, with the right to extend the mining lease further.
“As a high margin operation, the HGZ project will generate strong cashflows, which will fund further development at the HGZ mine and exploration activities at the company’s other assets,” Starr said.
A Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 24-million tonnes, grading 1 g/t gold for 790 000 oz of contained gold has been defined at the main zone of the Crater Mountain project, which includes four prospects.