Q2 Prelims........Very Good Progress
Lachlan Star produces 16,160 oz Au at CMD in Q2
2013-07-08 07:49 ET - News Release
Mr. Mick McMullen reports
LACHLAN STAR ANNOUNCES A 48% INCREASE IN QUARTER ON QUARTER GOLD PRODUCTION
Lachlan Star Ltd. has provided the following operational update for the June quarter. Highlights include:
- Gold production increased 48 per cent quarter on quarter to 16,160 ounces of gold in the June quarter, a record under the company's ownership.
- Gold stacked increased 16 per cent quarter on quarter to 20,751 ounces in the June quarter, a record under the company's ownership.
- Stacked grade increased by 5 per cent quarter on quarter to 0.52 gram per tonne (g/t) gold (Au).
- Mined ore grade increased by 19 per cent quarter on quarter to 0.58 g/t Au.
- Average stacking rate in the month of June increased to over 15,671 tonnes per day with 470,141 tonnes of ore stacked, a record under the company's ownership.
- Waste-to-ore ratio was reduced by 8 per cent quarter on quarter to 2.49:1, the lowest under the company's ownership.
- Total mining movement was reduced by 19 per cent quarter on quarter.
CMD gold mine
Production and sales
Production from the CMD gold mine is summarized in the associated table. Unless otherwise noted, all weights and measures are in metric units.
JUNE QUARTER KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS Three months ended Three months ended Change/ Item Unit June 30, 2013 March 31, 2013 variance (%) Ore mined dmt 1,139,766 1,338,000 -15% Waste mined dmt 2,840,086 3,601,724 -21% Total mined dmt 3,979,852 4,939,724 -19% Waste:ore ratio t:t 2.49 2.7 -8% Ore grade mined Au g/t 0.58 0.49 19% Gold mined Au oz 21,341 21,220 1% Ore stacked dmt 1,250,766 1,146,000 9% Stacked grade Au g/t 0.52 0.49 5% Gold stacked Au oz 20,751 17,940 16% Average stacking rate dmt/d 13,745 12,876 7% Gold produced Au oz 16,160 10,892 48%
Gold production increased markedly over the previous quarter as the impacts of the slower gold recovery seen at the start of the year have been reduced. The June quarter gold production is a record under the company's ownership of the mine. In addition, silver grades in the Tres Perlas pit have been increasing, resulting in a 176-per-cent increase in silver production to 11,559 ounces for the quarter, which is now providing some meaningful byproduct credits.
Total mining movements were reduced by 19 per cent as the impact of the reducing waste-to-ore ratios (down 8 per cent quarter on quarter to a record low under the company's ownership) allowed the company to reduce mining movements while increasing ore tonnes stacked.
The 9-per-cent quarter-on-quarter increase in ore tonnes stacked to a record 1.25 million tonnes combined with a 5-per-cent increase in the stacked grade resulted in ounces stacked increasing by 16 per cent over the previous quarter to a record 20,751 ounces of gold in the June quarter. The average daily ore stacking rate increased by 7 per cent from the previous quarter despite a heavy rainfall event in May that resulted in a three-day plant shutdown.
A total of 470,141 tonnes of ore were stacked in the month of June for an average daily stacking rate of 15,671 tonnes per day, which is the highest monthly stacking rate since the company has owned the CMD gold mine. The increased ore stacking is a result of increasing plant availability and hourly throughput rate increases.
As can be seen in an image on the company's website, the June quarter performance has been the best since the company bought the CMD gold mine at the end of 2010. Gold ounces mined, stacked and poured are all back on the upward trend and the operating team under the guidance of the company's chief operating officer is focused on increasing gold production at the lowest possible cost in this challenging gold price environment. Key to this theme is to increase production ounces while keeping fixed costs to a minimum and the 48-per-cent increase over the previous quarter demonstrates that this is successfully being achieved.