Scotgold Resources Limited (AIM:SGZ) said it expects fourth-quarter output from its Cononish gold and silver mine to exceed production achieved in the second and third quarters.
Scotgold reported today that it produced 2,004 ounces of gold and 10,265 ounces of silver in the third quarter to end-September.
Scotland's first commercial gold producer previously reduced its guidance for the third quarter due to the successful, but delayed, power and ventilation upgrades in the underground mine, which stalled mine development on the waste ramp last month.
It said it expects to produce 3,000 to 3,900 ounces of gold in the fourth quarter. Scotgold produced a record 3,531 ounces of gold in the second quarter.
READ: Scotgold produces and sells record amounts of gold in second quarter
The incremental debottlenecking of process plant areas such as flotation and tailings filtration completed during the third quarter enhanced gold recoveries beyond management's initial expectations enabling the plant to process feed of about 4,000 tonnes per calendar month (tpcm) prior to installation of tailings thickener, it said.
The October process plant feed rate of production is currently above the 4,000tpcm rate, it added.
“Q4 2022 production is anticipated to be ahead of Q2/Q3 2022 production levels, and I believe the quarter will mark a significant step change as we progress towards a processing rate of 5,000tpcm, equating to an annualised production of c.20,000 ounces of gold per annum run rate, once the tailings thickener has been commissioned in the processing plant,” said chief executive Phil Day.
Scotgold said it remained on track to deliver Phase 2/full production at Cononish of 23,500 ounces a year by end of the first quarter of 2023.
Day noted that running an average grade through the processing plant of 12 grammes a tonne gold in the year to date, coupled with a forecast low all-in sustaining cost of production of £544 per ounce, would place the company as one of the highest margins, lowest cost gold producers globally.