Caracal Gold PLC (LSE:GCAT) said it met its gold production target of 1,000 ounces per month from its flagship Kilimapesa mine in Kenya in December 2021.
Gold sales in the fourth quarter totalled 1,047 ounces, up from 569 ounces in the third quarter, even as the company decided to hold back on smelting of gold dore late in the quarter as its gold refinery was closed in late December for the holiday season. Deliveries to the refinery were also impacted by further upgrades and expansion work at its gold elution plant to enable the smelting of a significant increase in gold production.
The London-listed company recently announced that it was moving its Kilimapesa gold mining and processing operations into the final phase of development that will see its annual gold production rise to about 24,000 ounces.
READ: Caracal Gold excited as it moves to rapidly expand Kilimapesa gold operation
Caracal announced record ore production and ore processing at Kilimapesa in the fourth quarter.
The company said it expects to receive further regulatory approvals in the current quarter relating to its acquisition of the advanced Nyakafuru and Simba gold projects in Tanzania and that management will be on site later this quarter to start activities in the country.
"We have successfully demonstrated our ability during this past quarter to upgrade and improve our existing gold production and mine expansion activities at Kilimapesa,” said chief executive Robbie McCrae in a fourth-quarter operational update. “At the same time, we have acquired game-changing gold projects in Tanzania, the Nyakafuru and Simba gold projects, which have proven high-grade shallow gold resources and historical mining and development studies, allowing us to accelerate their developments.
"Operationally, at Kilimapesa we have reported record ROM production and plant throughputs, and demonstrated that the operation has the ability to achieve targeted gold production rates of 1,000ozs per month, achieved in December 2021.
“As a result of this, I was very pleased to recently announce our decision to accelerate the implementation of the final phase of our initial three-phase operational plan, to further increase monthly gold production by 100% to 2,000oz,” he said.