The T1 has the particularity of having a maintenance period which requires a plant shutdown of 2 to 3 days. Despite this maintenance, the 551,221 tonnes of ore processed are in line with the average of the previous 3 quarters. Annually, this is an average which is confirmed at around 2.2 million tonnes processed, in constant progression since the start of industrial production in 2017.
Mechanically, this performance of the tonnage processed has an impact on gold production, with 12,957 ounces of gold. Considering the maintenance period, it is interesting to compare this information over several years, but always with T1. That said, this performance was beaten only once, in 2020-Q1, when Robex was able to extract ore at the bottom of the main pit, where the gold grade was the highest with 1.1 g/t rather than 0.82 g/t. Due to the fact that this result is obtained by plant performance, rather than a better gold content, it will be repeated in subsequent quarters.
For gold sales, they benefited positively from the December delivery schedule. Because of the holiday season, there are ounces of gold that are produced in Q4 and sold in the following Q1. However, this is 1,402 ounces more gold than in 2023, with an average market value of $2,802 CAD, rather than $2,619 CAD in 2023. In total, this is an estimated income of $39,429,744 rather than $32,333,068 CAD in 2023-Q1, an increase of $7,096,676. Annualized, that’s a lot of cash.
For information, the POG is currently at $3,300 CAD, +7.07% over the previous quarter; +11.19% on the previous one; +16.82% on the previous one; 13.94% on the previous one; 14.55% on the previous one; etc. In short, inflation is pulverized; Robex is on track for a 30th consecutive month of positive cash flow; the increased capacity of the plant reduces the influence of the gold content on the results; financial support increases for the Kiniero project; the whole that contradicts all the lies.
Concerning maintenance, the desilter was replaced by a new one. This replaced major component will help reduce shutdowns and consequently support the constant progression of gold production. That said, it seems reasonable to me to believe that the next annual production estimate increases to 55,000 ounces of gold for 2024, or +3,000 ounces.
In conclusion, I leave you with the following inspiring comment from Daniel Marini: “As one of Robex's values is that today's records are tomorrow's values, we will continue on this path.”
Yours sincerely