Soma Gold Corp has hailed progress at its new Cordero gold mine in Colombia, where construction is due to be completed in the first quarter of 2022, which will lead to an uplift in output and cashflow.
The newly opened mine is already having an impact on metrics, and production for the third quarter to end September this year was 5,289 ounces, up 37% compared to the 3,866 ounces in 2Q, as feed from Cordero was added to the company's Mangos and La Ye mines.
Also, the average grade of the material mined so far has also been 9 grams per ton (g/t), compared to 4.5 g/t from Mangos and La Ye.
"We are pleased to be coming to the end of the construction of the Cordero mine resulting in a dramatic increase in feed of mineralized rock from 330 TPD to over 600 TPD by early 2022," said CEO Javier Cordova in a statement.
READ: Soma Gold achieves record production in August as Cordero mine comes on-stream
"This increase in feed material will allow Soma to restart the el Limon mill, increasing throughput to 600 TPD and increasing gold production from 1,500 ounces per month to 2,500 ounces per month for 2022.
"The resulting improvement in cash flow and operating profit will be significant for the company. Our team on the ground in Colombia has done an excellent job of managing the project.
At Cordero, work to access Level 3 is ongoing and expected to be completed in October with two additional faces opening in November and December this year.
"Development work on the ramp to levels 4 and 5 is expected to be completed in Q1 of 2022," said Soma.
"Once the construction phase is completed, the Cordero mine is expected to produce 600 TPD at an average head grade of 6.5 gpt. Over the next several months as mining accelerates, gold production will increase to 7,500 ounces per quarter."
The company also noted that it was on track to retire the first-stage obligations of its 2020 off-take deal with Nueva Grenada Gold Corp and MVPR International Corp, which saw Soma providing deliveries until December 2022, namely 12% of the first 24,500 ounces.
That delivery milestone will now be reached in December this year, noted Soma.
The second stage of the obligations is based on 6% of the next 22,000 ounces produced, which will be met in the early part of the fourth quarter, 2022, it added.
"The completion of the construction and the moving to stage 2 of the deliveries under the Off Take Agreement will increase monthly cash flow by approximately US$450,000 per month," said the company.
"During that time, gold production will increase to an average of 2,500 ounces per month compared to the average of 1,516 ounces per month for 2021."
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