Fortitude Gold (OTCQB:FTCO) Corp said it achieved record annual gold production from its Nevada gold operations that exceeded its 2021 guidance.
The Colorado Springs-based company delivered 8,866 gold ounces in its fourth-quarter 2021 for a total of 46,459 ounces during the year – handily surpassing its increased production guidance of 45,000 ounces.
The company said its Isabella Pearl mine “exceeded expectations,” delivering higher-grade gold that allowed for higher production.
READ: Fortitude Gold files plan of operation for Golden Mile Project in Nevada
According to Fortitude, ore process feed for the year was sourced from both the Isabella and Pearl zones, where high-grade Pearl zone ore was blended with lower grade Isabella stockpiles to assist in delivering consistent production grades to the heap leach pad.
Mining operations also encountered several high-grade pockets of gold mineralization in the Pearl zone, with some exceeding 100 grams per tonne gold, the company said. It was the higher-grade pockets that increased gold production and allowed the July upward revision of the high-end annual production range to 45,000 ounces of gold.
CEO Jason Reid called it an “uncommon set of circumstances for the mining industry” – and an excellent result for the Isabella Pearl project.
“We are fortunate to have a portfolio of properties with high-grade surface and near surface gold, indications of great metallurgy and in proximity to allow for a synergistic mining unit where we target to deliver long-term gold production and long-term shareholder dividend distributions,” Reid said in a statement.
Although its 2021 production totals beat the gold mining company’s estimates, Fortitude is setting its 2022 outlook at a conservative 36,000 to 40,000 gold ounces.
"Though it is possible we may mine additional ultra-high-grade pockets in the Pearl zone in the years ahead similar to the ten-, thirty- and one-hundred-gram gold pockets we encountered during 2021, due to industry standard capping of high-grade drill results in a reserve estimate, we continue to target our annual production outlook based off the reserve estimate,” Reid explained. “This conservative approach provides a longer production profile at Isabella Pearl while we move our Golden Mile Project forward towards a development decision for production and shareholder dividend longevity.”
Fortitude will release its full 2021 financial results shortly.
The firm’s Nevada mining operations consists of five high-grade gold properties located in the Walker Lane Mineral Belt, with the Isabella Pearl gold mine in current production.
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