Centerra Gold kicks off commercial mining in Turkey

Centerra Gold (TSX: CG) has declared commercial production at its Öksüt mine in Turkey, four months after it poured first gold at the operation.

The Toronto-based company now has three producing mines, including Kumtor in the Kyrgyz Republic and Mount Milligan in British Columbia.

“Commercial production at Öksüt marks a major milestone for the company. Öksüt was delivered on time and under budget,” CEO Scott Perry said in a statement.

The Turkish mine, located in the country’s south-central Kayseri province, was planned as a conventional truck and shovel open-pit heap leach operation, with a stacking rate of 11,000 tonnes per day.

The initial eight-year mine life was expected to process about 1.2 million contained oz. gold from two open pits, the Keltepe pit and the smaller Güneytepe pit.

Centerra acquired the asset in 2013.

Company-wide gold production in the first quarter rose to 190,474 oz. from 183,563 oz. in the same period a year ago, Centerra said in its last earnings report.

That includes 152,307 oz. at Kumtor, 33,681 oz. at Mount Milligan and 4,486 oz. at Öksüt during the start-up phase.

Copper production at Mount Milligan during the first quarter was 20.1 million pounds.

— This article first appeared in MINING.com.