Pantoro sets another production record

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Nicolsons gold project, in Western Australia has delivered a record quarterly production of 10 348 oz, despite heavy rains during the three months to March.

The March quarter's production was up by 8% on the 9 598 oz produced in the December quarter, owner Pantoro said on Tuesday.

Some 807 mm of rainfall were recorded at the project during the three months under review, but Pantoro noted that with the rain easing during the month of March, processing throughput increased to 17 550 t, a run rate of around 206 000 t/y.

“The production ramp-up at Nicolsons has rolled on during the quarter, with record production, despite experiencing huge amounts of rain on site, well above long-term averages,” said MD Paul Cmrlec.

“The process plant is now operating at, and often above, the targeted 200 000 t/y run rate, which should see site production output continuing to increase during the upcoming quarters.”

The openpit operation produced 16 467 t of ore during the quarter, grading 5.76 g/t gold, as well as 9 807 t of low-grade stockpiled ore separately. Underground production of around 34 927 t was mined, at a grade of 8.17 g/t gold, as well as 7 316 t of low-grade stockpiled ore, separately.