Dual-listed Resolute Mining produced more than 100 000 oz of gold for the quarter ended September 30, marking an important milestone in delivering its objective of becoming a low-cost, multi-mine and Africa-focused gold producer.

It produced 103 201 oz of gold during the quarter despite the Syama roaster, in Mali, being off line for unscheduled maintenance for a part of the period.

However, Resolute is now operating its new automated underground mine at Syama and has integrated the strong cashflow generative Mako gold mine, in Senegal, into its African operations.

With the achievement of major automation commissioning milestones at Syama, the continued strong performance of Mako and exploration success at Ravenswood, in Australia, CEO and MD John Welborn commented that the miner had strengthened its platform for growth and that it would continue to focus on delivering compelling value for shareholders.

“The September 2019 quarter marked the successful completion of site acceptance testing [at Syama] of one of the world’s most advanced mining automation systems,” he added, noting that automated loaders at Syama were now loading automated trucks delivering ore to the run-of-mine pad.

In conjunction with partner Sandvik, Resolute is now working to deliver even greater efficiencies through the reduction in truck cycle times and increased load tonnages.

In addition to automation success, sublevel caving continued to plan with the grade profile of ore mined reconciling strongly to the mine model.  

Welborn mentioned that recoveries from the Syama circuit were another positive for the quarter. Overall, sulphide circuit recoveries averaged about 79% with daily recoveries of over 85% achieved during periods and a maximum daily recovery recorded of 92%.

These periods of high recovery, mainly owing to an improvement in sulphide flotation recoveries, provide strong confidence in the company’s overall target to achieve consistent recoveries above 85%, he said.

Resolute is also working on its roaster repair plan and expects that the roaster to be fully operational by early to mid-December. As part of the repair plan, Resolute said it would be undertaking a full structural and operational assessment of the roaster and all associated infrastructure and production handling systems.

Underground mining activity will continue to ramp up and the roaster downtime will provide the opportunity to accumulate significant stockpiles of ore.  

Welborn confirmed that Resolute continues to guide production of 400 000 oz for the full-year.

As a result, Resolute advised that its group all-in sustaining costs for the 12 months to December 31, were now expected to be $1 020/oz, up from the previously reported $960/oz.