Aim-listed Highland Gold Mining produced 269 500 oz gold and gold equivalent in 2018, which met the guidance range of between 265 000 oz and 275 000 oz.
The production was a 1% decrease compared with the 272 274 oz produced in 2017.
The company has set its 2019 production guidance at between 290 000 oz and 300 000 oz. At the end of last year, the acquisition of the Valunisty mine and related assets was completed, which added more than 30 000 oz of gold and gold equivalent to Highland’s expected production for 2019.
Meanwhile, a new Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant reserve audit, published earlier this month, on the company’s Mnogovershinnoye (MNV) project, extended the project’s mine life to 2029, from the prior estimate of 2022.
OPERATIONS
For the year, ore processing was down only 4.6% at MNV, despite operating at half capacity during much of the first quarter. Production for the full year increased by 9%, owing to higher grades and recoveries.
The company’s Belaya Gora project had increased ore mining by 94% for the full year of 2018, reflecting the focus in 2017 on processing ore from Belaya’s stockpiles. Highland aims to publish a final report on estimates of reserves in the second quarter, following an 8 600 m drilling programme in the area.
Highland’s Novoshirokinskoye had an 11% decrease in production, compared with 2017, owing to lower grades and recoveries that resulted in a lower gold equivalent output.
To address these issues, Highland has intensified in-fill underground production drilling alongside the completion of a reserve confirmation drilling programme projecting out five years.
The company is also carrying out research on spiral flow separation, which would reduce the load on the gravity section and therefore increase recoveries, as well as on ore sorting using X-ray transmission and/or dense media separation, which is being considered as part of the design of Stage 2 of the Novo 1.3-million-tonne-a-year expansion project.
The Novo project involves upgrades to the underground mine.