The Kisladag mine is Turkey's largest gold operation.
VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Gold recovery issues at the leach pad of Eldorado Gold's Kisladag mine – Turkey’s largest gold mine – have prompted the Canadian miner to lower the full-year production guidance for the mine.
The Vancouver-based miner on Wednesday said gold solution grade and, consequently, gold recovery from the leach pad, have recently lagged internal expectations, despite the placement of estimated recoverable gold ore on the leach pad proceeding as planned.
Laboratory tests have indicated that an adjustment to the leach solution chemistry may still result in planned recoveries; however, more time is now required to adjust the overall pad solution chemistry and allow the solution to flow through the current stack height of the leach pad, which is at about 80 m at the highest point.
Kisladag is now expected to produce about 38 400 oz of gold in the quarter ending June 30, and about 90 000 oz of gold for the first half of this year. Kisladag will not meet Eldorado’s original full-year guidance of 230 000 oz to 245 000 oz.
The company now expects the mine to produce between 180 000 oz and 210 000 oz this year, with cash costs in the new guidance range of $450/oz to $500/oz.
Eldorado expects 2018 full-year output of about 320 000 oz to 335 000 oz, at cash costs of $425/oz to $475/oz, compared with previous guidance of 285 000 oz.