QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS
Q4-2023 gold production of 7,891 ounces; FY2023 gold production of 33,153 ounces, a 4.2% improvement to FY2022.
Coringa contributed 2,694 ounces of gold production in Q4 at mined grades of 6.33 g/t gold.
Cash held on 31 December was
Early exploration success at Matilda under the
Released an updated mineral reserve estimate for the
Purchased ore sorter for Coringa from Comex, which is now being transported to site and expected to be operational by Q4-2024.
Appointed
'There has continued to be significant mine development at Coringa which contributed production of a record 2,694 ounces. The mine is now being worked on four levels, with the newest level, 225mRL just intersected at the start of 2024. The Coringa orebody continues to exceed expectations with payability of the development significantly better than forecast, and we are planning an underground drill campaign at site during the first half of 2024. Combined with the positive mineral reconciliation we would expect this to expand the mineral resource for Serra and plan to issue a new mineral resource and reserve estimate during the Q3/2024. This follows from the new Palito reserve and resource estimate issued in
'Our greenfield exploration efforts at Matilda, being undertaken in partnership with Vale, resulted in an in-house estimation of 81Mt @ 0.28% Cu including 21MT @ 0.4% Cu though it should be cautioned that this potential volume and grade is conceptual in nature as insufficient exploration has been completed to define a mineral resource and it is uncertain if a mineral resource estimate will be delineated. This exploration potential has been generated from 21 drillholes, which totalled 7,598 metres. The 0.40% Cu grades are significant and certainly comparable to commercial porphyry deposit grades. We are focussed on scale and the next step will be to further drill and increase the potential size of this prospective deposit. We completed deep geophysics to better target the next round of drilling.'
'We look forward to 2024 with great optimism. An excellent geological resource update at Palito, Coringa mine development improving quarter by quarter, and with permitting of Coringa expected to reach a positive conclusion, we expect meaningful production growth and continued strong operational cash flow in the next 24 months. Alongside the opportunities afforded by our exciting exploration activities, there should be continued positive news for shareholders over the coming months.'
OPERATIONAL RESULTS
Total production for the fourth quarter of 2023 was 7,891 ounces of gold, with Coringa contributing 2,694 ounces to this total.
Total ore mined from the
Development mining operations at Coringa totalled 14,044 tonnes at 6.33 g/t in the quarter, by far the highest total since the operation commenced. The Coringa ore is being derived from the development of the Serra orebody, part of the Coringa complex, from four levels, and now including the new 225m level. 48,988 tonnes of ROM ore were processed through the Palito plant during the quarter, with an average grade of 5.31 g/t of gold, compared with 43,092 tonnes at 6.72 g/t of gold in the third quarter of 2023. This included 13,363 tonnes of Coringa ore at a feed grade of 6.45 g/t gold.
A total of 3,134 metres of horizontal development has been completed across both sites. 2,327 metres of horizontal development was recorded at Palito, of which 1,250 metres was ore development. The balance is the ramp, crosscuts and stope preparation development. Horizontal development at Coringa totalled 807 metres, of which 428 metres was in ore.
CORINGA LICENCING
In
The
EXPLORATION UPDATE
As previously announced in
During Q4-2023, drill results received with significant intercepts included: Hole 23-MT-010 - 21.45m @ 0.40% Cu and 0.11 g/t gold ('Au') from 95.55m
Hole 23-MT-015 - 25.00m @ 0.34% Cu and 0.09 g/t Au from 107.00m
Hole 23-MT-016 - 34.00m @ 0.34% Cu and 0.10 g/t Au from 142.00m
In addition to the Matilda works, the following exploration was undertaken during the quarter: Interpretation of regional airborne geophysics and soil geochemistry which have large scale (crustal) dilatational feature which hosts at least four new gold and copper prospects. 5,500 soil samples collected and part assayed covering over 70% of the
At Calico North, preliminary results have defined anomalous and consistent gold trends which follow a NW-SE structural trend, similar to the Palito deposit, which is just 1.5km to the north. The results suggest the continuity of the Palito mineralized corridor to the southwest.
At Isla, a 3.5km geochemical, NW-SE trending >300ppm copper anomaly has been defined, very similar in size and copper values with the ones at the Matilda copper prospect. The copper anomaly also has a coincidental airborne EM conductivity anomaly.
Re-interpretation of existing targets have refined our understanding and identified potential for epithermal and porphyry style mineralisation at
FINANCE UPDATE
Cash balances at the end of
Lower gold production and as a result lower sales volumes, together with increased inventory at the end of the period, resulted in cash received from sales for the period being
FY 2024 PRODUCTION GUIDANCE
The Company expects FY 2024 consolidated gold production of 38,000 - 40,000 ounces.
APPOINTMENT OF VP INVESTOR RELATIONS AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
The Company is pleased to announce the appointment of
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of
The person who arranged for the release of this announcement on behalf of the Company was
Contact:
Tel: +44 (0)20 7246 6830
Email: contact@serabigold.com
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