Construction of the Mako gold mine, located in eastern Senegal, has been completed ahead of schedule, under budget and safely with first gold pour achieved in January, said Toro Gold, the gold producer, developer and explorer with assets in West Africa, in its operating results from 1 January to 30 June 2018
Martin Horgan, CEO of Toro Gold, commented, “A highly successful construction process was followed by a smooth and seamless transition into the commissioning phase and onto operations.”
“Additionally, our drilling programme remains on schedule for completion in Q4 2018 in order to provide an updated mineral resource for the Mako mine. We are pleased with the encouraging results we have seen so far. Building on this momentum, the second half of 2018 will see a continued focus on the optimisation of the mine to maximise operational efficiencies, identify possible cost reductions and mine life extensions. We look forward to updating you in due course,” Horgan added.
Production highlights:
· Transition to operations from construction and commissioning to achieve design levels of performance was completed within a month of the first gold pour
· About 62,900oz of gold produced and sold at an average price of USD1,300/oz against a budget of 58,250oz
· Mining operations have progressed according to plan delivering the planned ore tonnage and grade within contracted budget rates
· About 859kt of ore processed at 2.59g/t Au against the budget of 760kt at 2.66g/t Au
· Metallurgical recoveries in excess of 95% against the forecast 92 per cent
· Average cash costs (including the commissioning and ramp up phase) of USD745/oz versus the budget of USD875/oz, inclusive of royalties
· Senegalese employees constitute 90% of the workforce (including contractors) with more than 60 per cent of the workforce coming from the local Kedougou region
