Ramp up of the Project has been significantly de-risked with mining activities having continued throughout the construction and commissioning phase resulting in 1.6 million ore tonnes and 380,000 ounces of gold stockpiled to date. Operational staff compliments have been filled, with operational staff an integral part of the commissioning process as sections of the Project are handed over to operations.
Certain components of the plant, however, require commissioning by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) vendor to maintain the validity of their warranties. Challenges in securing the OEM vendor representatives, due to previously announced delays by the main Project contractor, have resulted in an approximate two-month delay to commissioning of the mills and filter presses and therefore a delay to the production of first gold.
First gold from the project is still expected in the fourth quarter of 2023 but has moved from the beginning to the latter part of the quarter.
If first gold is produced on
Should the delay be longer, and first gold is only produced at the end of
Despite the downgrade in production for 2023 and 2024, steady state production will be reached by the beginning of 2025 and therefore planned production volumes for 2025 and 2026 remain unchanged at 600,000 oz-eq. Average production for the first six years of the mine life (2024 - 2029) remain unchanged at 500,000 oz-eq per annum (as previously guided in
Adjusting for inflation to 2024 money, the Project's AIC is expected to average
The total project capital estimate has increased by
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