PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed gold miner Perseus Gold has set a new quarterly production record during the three months to March, despite throughput limitations caused by a defective crusher at its Edikan gold mine, in Ghana.
The ASX- and TSX-listed miner noted that gold production during the March quarter reached 57 170 oz, exceeding the December quarter production by some 12%, which was a 9% increase on the previous best quarter production of 52 669 oz.
The increased gold production was achieved with a higher throughput and head grade being offset by slightly lower recovery. Perseus said that the average mill throughput rate was 872 t/h, which was 7.5% above the December quarter.
During the quarter under review, Perseus’ primary focus had been on confirming the mechanical capability of the processing circuit by achieving increasingly greater mill throughput.
“Having confirmed our ability to process ore at elevated throughput rates, efforts in the June quarter will focus on fine-tuning the metallurgical performance of the mill,” the company told shareholders.
It noted that several opportunities existed for improving recoveries, including managing the oxide/transitional/primary ore blend, improving the process water supply, maximizing the mill performance, and optimising the gravity circuit.