TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX-V-listed Goldsource Mines this week announced the first gold pour at its flagship Eagle Mountain Gold mine, in Guyana, the third gold mine to come on stream in the country in less than a year.
President Ioannis Tsitos told Mining Weekly Online in a recent interview that declaring commercial production was the next milestone, which required achieving 80% of nameplate capacity at about 1 000 t/d.
According to Tsitos, commissioning of the plant was proceeding apace, with no significant setbacks experienced thus far.
The project was completed below the $5.9-million budget and first gold sales would be recorded from this month.
The tailings from Phase 1 operations were being retained as inventory for future reprocessing. Phase I called for a 1 000 t/d openpit gravity plant with post-commissioning and ramp up cash operating costs of $500/oz to $600/oz of gold.
“Our immediate focus over the next several months will be to ramp up production to the designed nameplate capacity and to demonstrate that the economic viability outlined in the [June 2014] preliminary economic assessment is achievable,” said Tsitos.
Guyana’s gold mining industry had been heating up in recent months, with Barrick Gold entering the country earlier this month through an earn-in agreement with ASX-listed Alicanto Minerals over the Arkaka gold project.
Australia’s Troy Resources declared commercial production at its 90 000 oz/y Karouni gold mine in February, located in the disputed Essequibo region, administered by Guyana but claimed by Venezuela. TSX-listed Guyana Goldfields had also declared commercial production at its 6.54-million-ounce Aurora project on January 1.