The Cononish gold and silver mine in central Scotland.
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Scotgold Resources has signed a sales agreement with two manufacturing jewellers, marking its first sale of branded ‘Scottish Gold’ to the jewellery industry.
The agreement covers about 16 oz from the first refining batch of Scottish Gold produced during the bulk processing trial (BPT) at the Cononish mine, near Tyndrum in central Scotland.
The BPT also produces gold in the form of pyrite concentrate, of which about 53 wet metric tonnes have been shipped and sold under an agreement with Ocean Partners.
The sales agreement involved input from Baird & Co, as the appointed refiner, and the Edinburgh Assay Office, which would verify the Scottish Gold's provenance through a closely monitored chain of custody, Scotgold said in a statement on Wednesday.
The mine developer said that all the parties had agreed to keep the precise terms of the sale confidential, but noted that it had received a premium of more than the 30% reserve stipulated for the Scottish Gold rounds, auctioned in November 2016.
The Cononish mine, currently in the planning approval phase, is being developed in two phases, with the first phase of 3 000 t/m expected to reach sustainable levels by 2019, followed by the second phase expansion to 6 000 t/m in 2021.
Scotgold expects final permissions to be granted by the first quarter of 2018 and to start underground development work in the second quarter of 2018.