Cerrado Gold has announced the Q2 production results for the Don Nicolás mine, located in the province of Santa Cruz. This major operation in the province achieved a 45.07% improvement in performance over the first three months of the year, increasing production from 11,204 ounces to over 16,000 ounces of gold. The production for April was 6,641 gold equivalent ounces (GEO), 5,486 GEO in May, and 4,128 GEO in June.
By Panorama Minero
The operational results presented for Q2 showed significant improvement compared to the previous quarter, driven by the full exploitation of the high-grade Calandrias Norte open-pit, alongside the continued increase in heap leaching operations. The June production results saw a modest decrease due to adverse weather conditions that caused the closure of most roads in Santa Cruz and the Comodoro Rivadavia airport for several days. Despite this, they managed to surpass 4,000 ounces of gold. The heavy snowfall affected the transportation of high-grade ore to the mill and reduced mill throughput. However, it is expected that this material will be processed in the coming months, supporting future production levels. "The performance of the heap leach system during this period continued to improve despite the adverse weather and bodes well for the ramp-up to full commercial production, expected to occur in Q3 as the weather improves," the company indicated.
In parallel, the performance of the crushing circuit at the Calandrias Sur heap leaching project continued to improve, allowing more ore to be placed on the leaching pad during the quarter, "a key factor in achieving higher sustained production rates." Recovery rates are in line with the company's expectations given the characteristics of the ore placed on the pad to date.
Production on the heap leach pad improved from 491 GEO in April to 985 GEO in May and remained close to these levels in June, with 943 GEO, despite the extremely wet and cold conditions affecting leaching kinetics. Additional crushing capacity is currently being added through the addition of a mobile crushing unit recently delivered to the site, which is set to double the total crushing capacity at Calandrias Sur to around 10,000 tpd. This will support an increase in production in the latter part of the year, doubling the capacity to an estimated 4,500 ounces per month.
Following the results, Mark Brennan, CEO and President of Cerrado Gold, commented, "Production in the second quarter rebounded significantly thanks to access to high-grade ore at Calandrias Norte and strong performance from both the CIL plant and the new heap leach facility. Although conditions towards the end of the quarter impacted short-term production levels, we are encouraged by the heap leach system's performance, which maintained production despite the wet conditions. With production levels expected to remain around the current level in Q3, we continue to execute our plan to reduce debt levels and strengthen the balance sheet, and we look forward to emerging from the coming months in a much stronger operational position."
