JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Troy Resources reported on Wednesday that it would adjust its 2016 production guidance at the Karouni mine, in Guyana, after disruptions to the mill and ongoing processing difficulties hindered its June quarter performance.
Troy said progress to advance the Smarts pit into fresh rock had been slower than anticipated, owing to the prolonged severity of the west season and the requirement to cordon off sections of the pit to allow for the start of a drilling programme to test the continuity of North-South vein structures in the deposit, improve grade control information and formulate ongoing mining sequences.
Disruptions to the mill lubrication system during May and June and ongoing difficulties with the processing characteristics of the saprolite clay material that would not be fully resolved until the Smarts pit was in fresh rock, reduced the plant throughput rate during the June quarter.
Troy reported that “new to order” pumps and parts for the worn components in the lubrication unit would be delivered by the end of July, while on-site management teams were making preparations to ensure that work to refurbish the lubrication system would not result in any significant downtime for the mill.
“While every effort will be made to make up for this situation in the second half of the year, the increase in production that had been expected over the course of the June quarter, prior to these disruptions, will now only take effect in the September quarter,” the company stated, adding that the extent of the impact on its guidance was still being established.
In the June quarter, Karouni processed 161 764 t at a grade of 3.04 g/t, producing 14 553 oz, compared with the March quarter’s production of 26 212 oz.
Meanwhile, Troy announced that its COO in South America, Andrew Storrie, had decided to leave the company, following the staged divestment of the company’s interest in Casposo, in Argentina, and the closure of Andorinhas, in Brazil.