Altaley Mining Corp told investors that a review of the miner by new CEO and experienced executive Mike Struthers has now been completed, which has identified "robust, deliverable" production plans for 2023 at both its Mexico assets.
"The CEO review was an important introduction to the company, to gain a full understanding of the status of the operations and projects, administrative and financial functions and controls, organizational strengths, and weaknesses, etc. I’m pleased to say that this is now completed," said Struthers, who was appointed on September 12 this year.
The gold mine construction project at Tahuehueto is "substantially behind schedule and over budget," he noted, adding there were "many factors" involved, but the firm now has detailed plans to ensure the project was delivered successfully.
"One of my early decisions was to split the 500tpd and 1000tpd projects into two stages. It is important to first deliver the 500tpd project successfully, and from that foundation expand to 1,000tpd," he explained in a statement.
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"The 500tpd project is expected to be completed in early Q2, 2023, and the company expects to then move directly to the 1000tpd expansion. Many elements for the 1000tpd project are already in place with the first stage, and we already have the second ball mill," he said.
"Pre-production at Tahuehueto has been progressing well. We are currently milling an average of 350tpd and the plant is performing to expectations, producing saleable zinc and lead concentrates, the latter with on average 50 g/t gold," he added.
Altaley also highlighted that a rights offering and a share consolidation announced in December would "properly restructure the company’s share capital and prepare for future growth". The rights offering will raise additional funds to complete the construction of the 500 tonnes per day (tpd) project at Tahuehueto.
Elsewhere, Struthers said that the firm's Campo Morado mine had seen an "excellent" 2021 but a "poor" first half in 2022.
"The decision was taken to move production to new areas, with elevated copper grades, and by the end of 2Q22, this was well established with performance progressively improving since," noted the CEO.
"The keys to continuously improving performance at Campo Morado lies in stabilizing the mill with consistent blended ore feed, and putting into place an effective geometallurgical program, linking resources, the mine and the mill into a unified planning and production process," he said.
"We recently concluded a plant review by leading consulting engineers Ausenco, and from this we have a detailed path forwards to improve performance. I’m now optimistic we’ll see steady improvements through 2023 and beyond."
Altaley's Tahuehueto project is in north-western Durango state, Mexico, while Campo Morado is an operating polymetallic base metal mine in Guerrero, currently producing at an average of around 2,400 tpd and is currently estimated to be Mexico’s sixth largest zinc producer.
Registered chartered engineer
Struthers is a registered chartered engineer and his career spans four decades, working in Africa, Australia, Europe, Russia, and North and South America.
For seven years he was project manager and projects director with Lundin Mining Corp, responsible for developing and executing a range of strategic medium and long-term brownfield growth initiatives at its operations in Portugal and Chile.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com