logo-loader

Pure Gold Mining reveals series of initiatives to boost production and optimize costs at Red Lake mine

Published: 09:25 28 Mar 2022 EDT

Pure Gold Mining, Inc. -
The gold miner said it expects to mine and process ore at an average rate of between 600 to 700 tonnes per day, at an average head grade of 4.0-5.0 grams per ton

Pure Gold Mining, Inc. (TSX-V:PGM, LSE:PUR, OTC:LRTNF) has told investors that initiatives are underway at its PureGold mine in Red Lake, Ontario to boost daily ore production by a minimum of 50%.

For the first half of 2022, the gold miner said it expects to mine and process ore at an average rate of between 600 to 700 tonnes per day, at an average head grade of 4.0-5.0 grams per ton (g/t) gold and average gold recovery of 95%.

That should translate to expected gold production of between 15,000 to 20,000 ounces for the six-month period, the company said in a statement.

READ: Pure Gold Mining boosts operational team with new COO, mine general manager and vice president exploration

“Both ore production and grade are expected to improve in (the second half of) 2022 as the various initiatives underway continue to be developed and implemented, including work in support of the updated Life of Mine plan,” Pure Gold told investors.

Key initiatives for the company this year include increasing ore production and reducing costs, enhancing key infrastructure, and optimizing the life-of-mine plan, as well as other operating cost improvements.

Production improvements and cost savings initiatives are expected to lead to a 30% increase in average head grades and a 20% reduction in monthly operating costs compared to 2021 totals, the firm added.

Those initiatives include faster sill development, definition drilling and grade control, resource and reserve model reconciliation, and mobile fleet management.

"The wide-ranging optimization initiatives underway at PureGold designed to improve production, boost grade, and reduce costs all share one thing in common, and that is that they are long-term solutions designed to address the fundamental, underlying issues to ensure sustainable long-term success,” Pure Gold COO Terry Smith said in a statement.

“This asset offers tremendous upside in terms of organic growth and exploration potential, but we need to operate efficiently as a first step in order to unlock that potential. In our first six weeks here, the new operational leadership team have made great progress but we have more work to do and look forward to providing further updates on our progress throughout 2022."

New management

Smith is part of a new batch of faces at the Pure Gold boardroom table since the beginning of the year. In addition to Smith, the company has welcomed CEO Troy Fierro, CFO Chris Haubrich, vice president mine general manager Bryan Wilson, among others.

Bryan Wilson told investors that the group is building “a new culture” at Pure Gold centered around open communication, clear goals and strategy, and accountability.

“In the few weeks I've been on the job I can already sense we have an incredible group of people who are up to the challenge, and I look forward to showing them and everyone else what we can achieve,” Wilson said.

Pure Gold added that it has a cash balance of around $9 million, and told shareholders that it expects it will need to seek additional financing in the next 30 days to fund operations and to service the interest on its debt.

Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com

Follow her on Twitter @AHarmantas

Caledonia Mining tackles 2023 challenges with optimism for 2024 as it...

Caledonia Mining Corporation PLC (AIM:CMCL, NYSE-A:CMCL) chief executive Mark Learmonth tells Proactive's Stephen Gunnion the company faced a challenging 2023, primarily due to poor production in the first half of the year at its core asset, the Blanket Mine in Zimbabwe, and an underperformance...

25 minutes ago