Scotgold Resources Limited (AIM:SGZ) said heavy tunnelling at its Cononish mine in Scotland restricted production to 1,257oz gold in the three months to March compared to guidance of 1,400 - 2,200oz.
By the end of March and as a result of the underground work throughput was up to 3,000 tonnes of feed.
Grades from the new stope averaged 20 g/t of gold mined, which will be processed during April 2022.
These higher grades meant record levels of gold concentrate production in April already, said ScotGold.
“Just over 138 tonnes of concentrate has been produced during April thus far, comfortably ahead of any previous full months production.”
There are a further three more cuts to extract in the (CAF2) stope equating to an additional 6,000 tonnes of ore at around 17 g/t gold, said ScotGold’s statement.
Shipments in the first quarter totalled 175 tonnes with a sales value of £1.6mln with the global logistics problems hampering concentrate leaving the mine.
Cash revenue was affected as the company receive funds only when concentrate shipments are loaded.
Phil Day, chief executive, said: "As we enter Q2 2022, we have reached an exciting time in Cononish's optimisation and production ramp-up.
“We successfully accessed the (CAF2) stope at Cononish on 21 March in line with schedule and are beginning to see the results.
“Cononish is a high-grade operation, and we are delineating gold grades of up to 35g/t for processing.
“Importantly by adopting this "cut and fill" methodology to the short term mine plan we can better extract certain areas of the mine, obtain better indications of the geotechnical and resource characteristics in localised areas which allows for better stability and reliability of gold production going forward.”