Pure Gold Mining Inc has announced a series of management changes - as it continues to work to unlock the full potential of its flagship PureGold mine in Red Lake, Ontario - and has provided a production summary for the fourth quarter.
Commercial production was declared at the new Canadian mine on August 1 this year and Maryse Bélanger was named mine general manager in November. In six years, the mine has been transformed from a pre-resource stage asset through construction toward a commercial operation.
"It is an incredible achievement, especially during a pandemic," Bélanger told investors in a statement. "Today we have a fully built mine site with an 800 tpd mill currently achieving +95% recoveries which can operate at 125% of nameplate capacity. Despite that success, much work remains to unlock the mine’s full potential."
READ: Pure Gold Mining lifts throughput and headgrade at flagship Red Lake mine in 3Q
She added that she had been "immersed in all facets of the operation with the goal of getting the mine profitable in the near-term".
From January 1 this year, CEO and president Darin Labrenz has been replaced by Troy Fierro, a director and seasoned mining engineer, while Chris Haubrich, vice-president of business development, has replaced Sean Tetzlaff as chief financial officer (CFO), PureGold reported.
Ashley Kates, the corporate controller has been promoted to vice-president of finance and corporate secretary. Labrenz is also stepping down from the board, while Tetzlaff will no longer be in an executive role, he will continue to provide support as needed in an advisory capacity, it added.
On the operational front, issues surrounding accessing high-grade ore meant that changes to mine planning and scheduling were implemented in the fourth quarter to end-December and both ore production and head grade have been steadily increasing since, noted the miner.
Output in December was a record for the company, with the PureGold mine averaging 662 tonnes per day (tpd) of ore milled at a grade of 6.1 grams per ton (g/t) gold, with 96% recovery for 3,905 ounces of gold produced.
Also, for the last three weeks of December, the mine averaged an estimated 760 tpd of ore milled at a grade of 6.6 g/t gold with 96% recovery for an estimated 3,232 ounces of gold produced. Both represent gold production records over those respective time periods, the company highlighted.
As throughput and grade increase along with ongoing cost reduction initiatives, the firm added that it expects cash costs and all-in sustaining costs to trend downward throughout 2022.
Looking ahead, PureGold added that it was targeting production in the range of 600-700 tonnes per day (60%-70% of mill capacity) from the mine for the first quarter of 2022 and will ramp up gradually from there as access to high-confidence, high-grade stopes increases.
Average head grades are expected to initially be in the range of 5 g/t to 7 g/t gold and are also expected to increase steadily as the growing drilled inventory allows for better stope scheduling and increasing stope access allows for increased ore mining rates on a sustained basis, it added.
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