As work on the underground operation at the Tomingley mine continues, listed miner Alkane Resources reported on Wednesday that it expects production from the processing of stockpiles at the New South Wales-based mine to beat its previous forecast.
Gold production from processing medium-grade stockpiles in April and May totalled 8 886 oz, taking Tomingley’s total production to 46 319 oz for the financial year to date. For the year ended June, production would be 48 000 oz to 49 000 oz, Alkane said, noting that it was above the upper range of its previous guidance of 42 000 oz to 47 000 oz.
Alkane has also reduced the Tomingley’s cost guidance to between A$950/oz and A$1 050/oz on an all-in sustaining basis.
For the remainder of the calendar year, Tomingley would process about 700 000 t of low-grade stockpiles with an average grade of 0.7 g/t gold at a design federate of one-million tonnes year. Thereafter, processing would revert to underground ore.
Alkane said that the first underground ore would be delivered in August. The underground development was on budget and progressing ahead of schedule.
The underground mine is designed to produce 93 000 oz over a 40-month period at a cash cost of A$1 100/oz to A$1 200/oz.