Starting a millToday i received this interesting news release from GORO, a junior gold miner i'm holding shares, too. It deals with the process of starting the mill and the timeframes involved. Keep in mind that GORO has a completely new mill and it took them two months to run it mechanically consistently:
DENVER – April 14, 2010 – Gold Resource Corporation (GRC) (OTCBB: GORO, FRANKFURT: GIH) is pleased to announce shipment of the first concentrates for sale from its El Aguila Project. The Company’s El Aguila Project is located in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Gold Resource Corporation’s first shipment of concentrates has now been made and sold under contract to Consorcio Minero de Mexico Cormin Mex, S.A. de C.V. (a Trafigura Group Company) who will take delivery at a Mexican port for ultimate shipment to a smelter. Trafigura is the second largest buyer of concentrates in the world.
William W. Reid, President of Gold Resource Corporation stated, “This is an important milestone in the progress of the El Aguila Project. It has taken essentially two months to get the mill running consistently from a mechanical point of view. With the mechanical aspects now behind us, our focus has shifted to the last part of commissioning, optimizing the mill operationally and metallurgically. We have not yet achieved designed throughput nor designed recovery so we are still running low grade ore until these final parameters are achieved. It may take several more weeks to optimize the grinding and flotation circuits and achieve the level of training and operator experience necessary before commercial production can be declared. We are very pleased with the commitment and accomplishments of our people as they work through these important steps.”