After having its first gold pour six months ago, Crocodile Gold (crk-t) has reached commercial production at its Union Reefs carbon in leach mill in Australia’s Northern Territory.
The company says that target throughput, grades and recoveries are now being met consistently at the 8,000 tonne-per-day operation.
Crocodile has been processing ore at Union Reefs from the nearby Howley and North Point open pit mines and the higher grade Brocks Creek underground mine.
The company produced less than 14,000 oz. gold in the first quarter, below its goal, and so has reduced its 2010 production goal to 100,000 oz. gold from 120,000 oz.
Despite this setback, Crocodile says it’s still on track to reaching annual production of 200,000 oz. gold in 2011.
Ore from the Pine Creek and Cosmo areas will eventually be sent to the Union Reefs mill.
The company has recently started portal excavation at the Cosmo underground deposit, near the Howley deposit, and production is expected to start in mid-2011.
Crocodile is also working on the development of the Tom’s Gully underground project. Ore from Tom’s Gully will go to the 800-tonne-per-day on-site mill.
Crocodile bought the gold operations in June 2009 for $40 million in GBS Gold International’s liquidation sale.
Reserves for Tom’s Gully and the Burnside project (Howley, Brocks Creek, Cosmo and North Point) total 3.8 million tonnes grading 4.5 grams gold per tonne for 545,000 oz. gold.
The different projects are on a 2500 sq. km property 90 to 285 km south of the city of Darwin.
The company also recently announced a $20 million bought-deal financing. A syndicate of underwriters led by Macquarie Capital Markets, Cormark Securities and GMP Securities agreed to buy 15.4 million shares for $1.30 apiece.
The funds will be used for ongoing capital expenditures and exploration activities in Northern Territory.
Crocodile shares were up 6% today, or 8¢, to $1.41 apiece on a trading volume of 751,000 shares.
Be the first to comment on "Crocodile reaches commercial production at Union Reefs"