PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Kingsgate Consolidated has maintained its production expectations for the 2015 financial year, despite being ordered in January to cease production at its Chatree mine, in Thailand.
Thai authorities have ordered Kingsgate to suspend mining activities at Chatree after random urine and blood tests from villagers nearby the mine revealed above-standard arsenic and manganese levels.
Kingsgate went into a trading halt owing to the uncertainty of the implications of the shutdown, and the timing of the restart.
The miner has maintained that the Chatree operation was not the source of the elevated arsenic or manganese within the surrounding district, as the processing plant at the mine did not use either of these, and the products were not stored on site.
Despite the uncertainty around the restart of operations at Chatree, Kingsgate has maintained full-year production of between 195 000 oz and 215 000 oz, with the Chatree mine expected to deliver between 130 000 oz and 140 000 oz, while the Challenger mine, in South Australia, would deliver between 65 000 oz and 75 000 oz.
During the quarter ended December, Kingsgate reported gold production of 61 549 oz, which was up from 53 557 oz during the previous quarter, as head grades recovered at the Chatree mine.
The Chatree operation delivered 39 134 oz of gold during the quarter, while the Challenger mine delivered 22 415 oz.