Thor Explorations Ltd. (CVE:THX) (LON:THX) has told investors it expects to pour first gold from its Segilola mine project in Nigeria before the end of this month as the firm revealed it had started commissioning the process plant.
The plant is being made live in stages with the power plant already being commissioned. Next will be the SAG & Ball Mills and the crushing section. Work is also remaining on the gold room, elution and electrowinning circuit.
READ: Thor Explorations starts trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange
"We are pleased to reach this significant milestone on the Segilola gold project," said Segun Lawson, CEO of Thor Explorations, in a brief statement.
"Once again, I would like to thank the entire team, which has done an excellent job amidst the difficult circumstances of the global pandemic to reach this key step in the development of the Segilola Gold project as we gear up towards production. We continue to work towards, and look forward to, first gold pour before the end of the month."
Mining is now underway at Segilola, Thor's main project, with 700,000 tonnes of waste extracted and 30,000 tonnes of stockpiled ore.
The pit is fully prepared, with pre-strip nearing completion and the mining fleet is now fully commissioned and production is expected to quickly ramp up to its design capacity.
All necessary permits are in place and blasting operations have started as the company moves into the harder transitional and fresh ore zones, it said.
Segilola has a 25-year mining license and the NI-43 101 open pit probable reserve stands at 405,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 4.2 grams per ton (g/t). The higher confidence indicated resource is 469,000 ounces at 4.7 g/t of gold.
Capital expenditure for the mine was put at just US$87.5 million, while the all-in-sustaining-costs (AISC) are put at a competitive US$662 per ounce, which is the lowest quartile on the global cost curve.
Based on a gold price of US$1,300 per ounce, the post-tax net present value (NPV) comes in at US$138 million with an impressive 50% internal rate of return (IRR) and a payback in under 1.4 years.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com