Moscow- and London-listed Polyus has updated the mineral resource estimate for its Sukhoi Log project, reporting a maiden Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant indicated mineral resource estimate completed by AMC Consultants.
The estimated mineral resources at Sukhoi now stand at 962-million tonnes, grading 2.1 g/t gold and containing 63-million ounces of gold – which is a 9% increase compared with the prior estimate of 58-million ounces.
AMC also upgraded 28-million ounces of inferred mineral resources to indicated mineral resources.
The company will continue in-fill, deep levels, flanks and other drilling up to the end of 2019. Polyus plans on drilling a total 197 000 m, including the about 135 000 m drilled since October 2017.
Polyus anticipates an ore reserve estimation by AMC in 2020, based on indicated mineral resources in the current estimate and estimates resulting from 2019’s drilling campaign.
Meanwhile, Polyus’ total gold output for 2018 increased to 2.436-million ounces, compared to 2.160-million ounces in 2017, which is a 13% increase and above the guidance of between 2.375-million and 2.425-million ounces.
CEO Pavel Grachev said it had been the fifth consecutive year that the company has exceeded its production guidance, with the 2.4-million ounces setting a new record.
The company’s volume of ore processed for the year rose by 33% to 38-million tonnes, driven by the ramp-up of the Natalka Mill, expansion projects at existing operations and the start of heap leaching operations at Kuranakh.
Grachev anticipated another year of production growth in 2019 and expected total gold output to reach about 2.8-million ounces.
The Polyus group’s principal operations are located in the Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk and Magadan regions and the Sakha Republic (Yakutia).