VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Vancouver-headquartered gold producer Goldsource Mines has increased its existing $1-million loan facility with Mitan Holdings, a company controlled and directed by a director of the company, by a further $300 000.
The funds will be used for the purchase, delivery and installation, early in the first quarter of 2017, of a Krebs cyclone, to operate in tandem with the existing Falcon concentrators, to lift gold recoveries from the Eagle Mountain mine plant, in Guyana.
Goldsource will also install a separate secondary gravity/sluice box plant (excluding concentrators) for increased gold production.
The company noted on Wednesday that preliminary data from ongoing optimisation programmes suggests that Falcon recoveries have increased from about 15% in September, to 17% in October, and to 28% in November. Further testwork and optimisation, including cyclone and sluice processing for potential increased recoveries will be completed in the first quarter of 2017.
Goldsource has committed to repay the principal outstanding under the additional facility within two months from the date of the advance of the additional facility. The revised terms of the facility provide that the company will repay $50 000 of the principal outstanding under the facility starting on January 23, and each month thereafter until payment of the outstanding balance, which is due on June 21, 2017.
Last month, Goldsource deferred its Phase 2 expansion plans at its flagship Eagle Mountain gold mine, to address issues with an underperforming plant and a water shortage. The company has cut guidance from between 1 400 oz and 2 100 oz gold to between 600 oz and 800 oz gold, reflecting lower-than-expected throughput and recovery, as well as unexpected equipment downtime and drought.