Scottish gold and silver miner Scotgold Resources is producing record quantities of the precious metals from its operation at Cononish in Argyll.
The London-listed company said its strong output figures were expected to continue throughout this year.
Production during April and May totalled 1,984 ounces of gold and 10,810oz of silver, worth about £2.93 million and £190,000 respectively at today’s global market prices.
The firm said its “cut and fill stop mining” progressed well during April, May and into June, with a third stope targeted for Q3 2022.
A stope is a dugout tunnel or space containing the ore being mined.
Scotgold chief executive Phil Day said: “We are pleased to report that April and May have delivered record profitable gold production, a trend we expect to continue in June and the rest of 2022, in line with our mine schedule.
“Crucially, as we continue to develop the mine, and access areas to stope mine cut and fill, our mining visibility, mining efficiencies, gold grade definition and control further improve.”
Scotgold production
Mr Day said this put Scotland’s only commercial gold producer in an “ideal position” to implement processing plant and mine optimisation plans in pursuit of further growth.
The second half of 2022 will see Scotgold deliver step changes in performance, gold grade, stability of production and reduced costs per tonne of ore mining, he added.
Scotgold’s Alternative Investment Market shares lifted nearly 3% to 72.5p after it said it notched up sales of £2.42m for 223 tons of gold concentrate in April and May.
The company also revealed it may exceed its second quarter production target of 2,600-3,200oz of gold.
Scotgold has to date drawn down nearly £2m of a £3m loan to fast-track optimisation initiatives in 2022-23.
It is more than 15 years since Scotgold unveiled plans to reopen an abandoned gold mine at Cononish, near Tyndrum, on the edge of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.
The firm had acquired the assets for £800,000 from the Swiss-based Oak Consortium and sought permission from the Crown Estate, owners of the rights to the gold, to lease the site.
Commercial production was supposed to start in late 2019 but Scotgold suffered delays relating to the management of excavated materials and drainage – and the target date was put back to May 2020.
That plan was scuppered by Covid-19, with construction and development grinding to a halt in March 2020.
The “first pour” of commercially produced gold was finally achieved on November 30 2020.
More targets
Coninish is only the start of Scotgold’s Scottish gold ambitions.
The company holds 13 lease option agreements covering an area of nearly 1,120 square miles of the central Highlands, mostly in rural Perthshire.
Three prospective areas close to Cononish have been identified and the firm intends to explore these during 2022 and 2023.
Conversation