Yukon-focused miner Victoria Gold will not meet its full-year production guidance of 165 000 oz, after its 1.5 km overland conveyor that links and delivers ore from the crushing plant to the heap-leach facility at its Eagle mine failed.
On September 29, the conveyor experienced a splice failure of the main belt, which has been in service since 2019. The company says it has been determined that the best course of action is to replace, rather than repair, the belt.
The new belting is on site and additional resources have been mobilised to site to support the belting crews.
Due to the length of the belt and the number of sections to be spliced, it is expected that crushing, conveying and stacking operations will be down between two and three weeks.
Victoria Gold previously expected full-year production to be close to the lower end of the guidance range of 165 000 oz but owing to the estimated length of time required to replace the overland conveyor belt, the company will no longer achieve production or cost guidance.
Once the Eagle operations resume full production, an updated guidance will be provided, Victoria Gold says.
In the third quarter, Victoria Eagle produced 50 028 oz, compared with 55 827 oz, bringing nine-month output to 106 441 oz.