Mine Produces 77,748 Ounces In H2
Victoria Gold Corp. (TSXV:GCX) has announced Q4 2020 production of 42,174 ounces gold, lifting its H2 2020 gold production to 77,748 ounces versus guidance of 72,000 – 77,000 ounces.
“Victoria’s Eagle Gold Mine had a strong finish to the year with solid Q4 operational performance,” President and CEO, John McConnell, said.
“Gold production of 77,748 ounces in H2, our first six months of commercial production, exceeded our revised guidance.
“Ore placement on the heap leach pad increased by more than 20% quarter over quarter including over one million tonnes of ore stacked on the pad in December.
“Effective health protection measures are continuing and have safeguarded employees and local residents and enabled mine operations to continue, with no suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 at site.”
Mr McConnell said that as per the company’s seasonal operations plan, ore stacking on the leach pad has now been curtailed for the 90 coldest days of the year, January through March.
During this 90 day period, mining operations, primary crushing and stockpiling of ore will continue. As well, leaching and gold production will continue. Subject to favourable weather conditions, ore stacking may be resumed ahead of schedule.
Mr McConnell said that the shutdown of the secondary crushing and stacking systems provides an excellent opportunity to finalize the optimisation program began in the fall, discussed in the company’s News Release dated November 13, 2020.
A number of specialty contractors have been mobilized to site to complete this work.
Gold production in Q4 2020 was 20% higher than in Q3 2020. Ore stacked on the heap leach pad increased by 21% while ore mined increased by 7% quarter over quarter. Ore stacked improved considerably in Q4 and particularly during the second half of November through the end of the year.
Total tonnes mined were 19% lower in Q4 versus Q3 as a result of reduced waste mining. Waste mining was lower in Q4 as considerable waste mining was advanced in Q3, setting the company up well for mining operations in Q1 2021. Both gold grade and metallurgical recovery continue to reconcile well against the reserve model and a significant gold inventory is building on the heap leach pad.
Victoria Gold’s 100%-owned Dublin Gulch gold property is situated in central Yukon Territory, Canada, approximately 375 km north of the capital city of Whitehorse, and approximately 85km from the town of Mayo.
