Jul 9 2014
Carpathian Gold Inc. (the "Corporation" or "Carpathian") is providing the following update on its RDM gold mine (the "RDM Mine") in Brazil. The RDM Mine is 100% owned by the Corporation's wholly-owned subsidiary Mineração Riacho dos Machados Ltda. ("MRDM").
Re-commissioning of the RDM Mine processing plant, which commenced in mid-March following re-instatement of the Autorização Provisória de Operação ("APO" or provisional operating license), is proceeding and is in the ramp-up phase.
Process Plant
The process plant, a conventional crush-grind-CIL circuit with a planned production capacity of 7,100 tonnes per day, is currently in a ramp-up phase whereby components of the plant are tested under work-load conditions with allowance for technical adjustments and site re-designs if required. Typical ramp-up periods for a plant this size can range from three to six months or longer if equipment and or engineering flaws are discovered. The Corporation has been experiencing certain difficulties during this stage, chief among them having been in the area of power generation. The lack of synchronization between generators has proven to be a major impediment and has resulted in numerous plant shutdowns consequently leaving the Corporation behind in its internal ramp up schedule. Other key items being adjustments to the crushing circuit components as well as full completion of plant facilities that were not required for the re-commissioning and ramp-up phase but necessary for steady-state design capacity production.
The following production has been attained thus far following re-commissioning:
- To June 30th, RDM has processed 364,056 tonnes at an average grade of 1.32 g/t gold and poured 10,671 ounces gold and 3,441 ounces silver and;
- in the month of June, 119,560 tonnes of ore were processed at an average grade of 1.30 g/t gold, attaining approximately 56% of the designed tonnage capacity, and;
- also in the month of May, 3,279 ounces of gold were produced representing 66% of contained gold in ore feed, but with an increase in the gold in circuit. The metallurgical recovery was 86% and management believes the 90% planned gold recovery is attainable under steady-state plant operations.
Mining
The RDM Mine is a conventional open pit operation of drill-blast-load-dump utilizing an owner-operated fleet and a mining contractor. The feasibility design pit is a single pit with LOM pit length of 1,800 metres. Mining activity began to ramp-up in mid-March with the bulk of ore mining activity occurring in the Central Pit zone. Run-of-mine (ROM) ore at RDM is currently defined with a cutoff grade of 0.63 g/t gold with ore greater than 0.32 g/t gold and less than 0.63 g/t gold stored in a stockpile. The following mining has occurred in this ramp-up phase:
- To June 30th, a total of 547,131 tonnes of ROM ore have been mined at an average grade of 1.09 g/t gold, and;
- also to June 30th, ROM ore stockpile consists of 862,808 tonnes at an average grade of 0.88 g/t gold which is segregated into high and low grade ore classes, and;
- in the month of June, 101,745 tonnes ROM ore were mined at an average grade of 1.14 g/t gold which represents 48% of the daily production of 7,100 tonnes per day. The other 52% came from the stockpile.
The bulk of ore from the current mining is from the lower-grade central pit zone. Waste extraction is underway in the north pit zone and higher grades are anticipated when mining activity can ramp-up in the north pit zone. A thorough grade and tonnes reconciliation between ROM ore and process plant feed-grade and tonnes has not yet been concluded in this ramp-up phase.
Operating License
The RDM gold project is currently operating under the reinstated Autorização Provisória de Operação ("APO" or provisional operating license), as announced on 24 February 2014. The APO allows the project to operate and produce and sell gold during the interim period prior to receiving the Licença de Operação ("LO" or operating License). MRDM is proceeding with the requirements set-forth by the regulatory bodies to receive the LO (the definitive operational permit) and complete the necessary inspections. This process is expected to take 2 to 3 months to complete.
About Carpathian
Carpathian is an exploration and development company whose primary business interest is developing near-term gold production at its 100% owned Riacho dos Machados Gold Project in Brazil. In addition, it is also focused on advancing its exploration and development plans on its 100% owned Rovina Valley Au-Cu Project located in Romania.
Source: http://www.carpathiangold.com/