Steppe Gold Limited (TSX: STGO) (OTCQX: STPGF)has received a new shipment of key reagents and has now resumed full production the ATO Gold Mine in Mongolia.
Throughout 2021, Steppe Gold faced significant reagent supply issues related to COVID lockdowns and border closures, notably with China. Having explored numerous supply alternatives, the company has now secured new supplies and has recommenced heap leach ore processing.
The company had continued full scale mining, crushing, and stacking operations at the ATO Gold Mine throughout 2021 and is very pleased to report a strong build-up of inventories on the leach pad, ROM pad and blast ores on the pit floor.
As of March 1, Steppe Gold has a total of over 2.45m tonnes of ore stacked on the leach and ROM pads.
On the leach pad there is currently a total of 795,461t at 1.90 g/t Gold that is unleached. A further 451,580t at 1.15g/t Gold is on the ROM pad.
The company also has 569,604t at 2.09g/t Gold of blasted and unmined ore on the pit floors of the ATO1 and ATO4 open cuts which will now be carted to the ROM and Leach Pad.
At 70% estimated recovery this derives a total of 81,842 ounces of recoverable gold, or approximately $147M at $1,800 per ounce from the ROM and unleached areas.
- Blasted in Pit Ore: 569,604 tonnes, equating to 26,815 Recoverable Gold Ounces for US$48M
- ROM Ore: 451,580 tonnes, equating to 11,689 Recoverable Gold Ounces for US$21M
- Leach Pad – Unleached Ore: 795,461 tonnes, equating to 34,080 Recoverable Gold Ounces for US$61M
With an estimated recovery rate of 70% the leached sections are also estimated to yield a further 9,258 ounces for an additional US$17M.
Steppe has produced 45,655 ounces for the project to date resulting in a recovery rate of 58%.
The company continues crushing and stacking operations and will soon recommence mining with operations in all active pits. The Company plans to produce over 100,000 ounces of gold from the oxide zones in 2022 and 2023.
“Despite the unprecedented and unexpected challenges with reagent supply in 2021, the company continued its mining, crushing and stacking operations throughout 2021,” President and CEO, Bataa Tumur-Ochir, said.
“We are very pleased to be back in production and to be able to use our significant inventory with over 81,842 ounces of estimated recoverable gold available to be leached, and a strong inventory of high-grade oxide ores in the active pits.
“We want to thank our partners and shareholders for their support during the challenging year. We believe 2022 will be the year of rapid growth and expansion with full production and further financing updates and development progress on the Phase 2 Expansion project.”
For further information please visit: https://steppegold.com/
