Roxgold recorded a solid operating performance at its Yaramoko mine, in Burkina Faso, for the first quarter of this year, with gold production of 33 652 oz.
With production at the mine weighted towards the second half of the year, the company remains on track to achieve its full-year production guidance of between 145 000 oz and 155 000 oz of gold, Roxgold president and CEO John Dorward said in a statement on Monday.
During the March quarter, the company realised record quarterly throughput of 106 816 t, exceeding increased nameplate capacity of 1 100 t/d by about 8%.
Roxgold accelerated its regional exploration activities with the conclusion of the 55 Zone deep drilling programme, including core drilling on the Bagassi South extensions, reverse circulation (RC) testing of soil geochemistry anomalies, and extending the auger drilling across new prospects.
The company started RC drilling at the Séguéla gold project’s Antenna deposit on April 24, and aircore drilling began at Kwenko West on April 29.
Dorward enthused that the development ramp-up at Bagassi South had progressed well and that the company was on track to begin stoping operations during the second quarter, as scheduled.
“Regional exploration is currently under way with four rigs testing several structural and geochemical anomalies across the licence, while an extensive auger programme continues to generate new anomalies.”