Altaley Mining Corporation said that over the past week it has successfully achieved ongoing pre-production with the first 500 ton per day (tpd) ball mill at its Tahuehueto Gold Mine.
In an update to shareholders, the company said its operations team have been resolving various start-up issues related to the water supply pipeline and mill commissioning. Recently, processing has been stabilized with the mill achieving ore throughput up to 350 tpd and averaging approximately 195 tpd over the past 5 days.
"Although the commissioning phase of Tahuehueto's first ball mill has taken longer than anticipated, management is optimistic that most of the start-up issues are behind us and that the project will be able to maintain steady-state production with the initial ball mill and thereby begin to increase Tahuehueto's concentrate sales and revenue over the coming months" Ralph Shearing, Altaley CEO & president said in a statement.
READ: Altaley Mining eyeing first revenue from Tahuehueto in Mexico as mill commissioning kicks off
Mill throughput is estimated to remain at current levels over the next two weeks with crushing being handled with a provisional cone crusher, the company said, adding that installation of the permanent crushing circuit is being finalized and is expected to be operational within the next two weeks.
To date, approximately 260 tonnes of bulk concentrated have been produced at Tahuehueto and two shipments of approximately 30 tonnes each have been shipped to Trafigura for sale.
“Revenue received from the 1st shipment was approximately US$42,000 paid for gold, silver, and lead. The second delivery payment is pending. Another 70 tons of concentrate is in the process of being shipped from Tahuehueto to Tepehuanes subsequently to be trucked and sold to Trafigura in the coming days,” the company added.
The Tahuehueto operations team estimates that there are approximately another 150 tonnes of concentrate available, drying on the mill patio and within the thickeners available to be filtered for drying on the patios.
Installation of the second 500 tpd ball mill is scheduled over the next several months and commissioning this mill is expected during Q4 2022 and ramp up production towards the mine's designed capacity of 1,000 tpd near the end of 2022.
Share sale
Altaley also said Roberto Guzman Garcia has informed the company that he intends to sell up to 50 million shares, a majority of his 68,160,172 controlling share position in the company as part of a restructuring of his Mexican real estate business.
The sales will be made in a series of private transactions or through pre-arranged crosses through the facilities of the TSX Venture Exchange. It is not anticipated that any of the purchasers will hold 10% or more of the company while Guzman will retain direct or indirect ownership of approximately 18.16 million Altaley shares as a director and significant shareholder.
Altaley is a Canada-based mining company with two 100% owned Mexican gold, silver, and base metal mining projects.
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