CGA Mining is picking up the pace for exploration at the Masbate Gold Project in the Philippines. The company has allotted $20 million for exploration activities in the financial year 2012. This is nearly three times the budget for exploration in 2011 which was set at $7 million for the gold mining project.
Production for the month of May was 17,074 gold ounces valued at $26.3 million at the gold spot price of $1,540 per ounce. As Masbate continues to exceed expectations the company expects to announce a new throughput production estimate for the quarter from the largest gold mining project in the Philippines.
As part of the exploration CGA Mining hopes to undertake about 144,000 meters of reverse circulation drilling and 28,000 meters of diamond drilling. The drilling will be focusing on converting inferred resources to reserves. Currently there is an Inferred Resource of 3.22 million ounces and a Probable Reserve of 3.03 million ounces.
CGA Mining is a dual listed company with listings on both the Toronto and Australian stock exchanges. The Masabate mine had its first gold poured in May 2009. The first year of operations saw it producing 150,000 ounces of gold. In the current year it expects to produce 200,000 ounces of gold. The company is looking to upgrade its processing plant from 4Mtpa to 6.5Mtpa. The mining contract for the project has been awarded to Leighton.