arozonaThe Company noticed during the second quarter that the pilot holes were not precisely drilled within the vein structure. It was decided to mobilise an additional thermal unit to drill other pilot holes. By drilling its own pilot holes, the Company is assured of the precision needed to fragment the vein, thereby attaining a higher rate of production.
At the end of the second quarter, AU’s geologist located a new vein structure, called HV.
In the third quarter of 2017, the Company continued to use the treatment plant, however the focus was put on the Knelson gravimetric concentrator (equipment to recover free gold). After several adjustments and considering that the feed was low grade, the Knelson is now tuned to process higher-grade material. The thermal fragmentation process continues and the Company mobilized the drill unit in June 2017 on the VH vein.
During April 2017, the Company sold the treatment plant to AU which resulted in a gain on disposal of $65,707. The treatment plant was not used by the Company. Furthermore, the sale of the treatment plant earned the Company $180,000 USD benefitting its working capital in addition to releasing itself from debts owed to suppliers totalling $290,418 USD.
In the last quarter of 2017, the treatment plant was plagued by various problems and it was determined after detailed inspections that the cause of these problems were related to a misalignment of its base. Work to rectify the problem will be completed once the operations are ready to be restarted. All on-site activities were postponed until the joint-venture between Val d’Or Resources Corporation (“VRC”) and the financing group is completed, scheduled for early 2018.