Accordingly, head grades have significantly increased compared to the first quarter and continue to trend positively, achieving an average of 6.3 g/t Au over the last three weeks.
Pure Gold currently has 17 stopes designed and ready for development over the next three months
Production for the first six weeks of the quarter totaled 18,546 tonnes of ore and 2,855 ounces of gold recovered, inclusive of a four-day mill shutdown for planned maintenance in mid-April.
Meanwhile, metallurgical recoveries continue to be exceptional, ranging between 95%-99% year-to-date. Ore production rates are expected to continue to increase toward design capacity of 800 tonnes per day, with the goal of achieving and sustaining that rate by mid-year.
Pure Gold is now accelerating development of both the main and east ramps for the remainder of 2021, which would provide earlier access to higher-grade mining zones.
“The ramp-up of the PureGold mine has gone exceptionally well during the second quarter. As we continue to open up the mine and access the heart of the deposit, we are seeing the mine show its high-grade nature, as expected,” president and CEO Darin Labrenz commented in Thursday’s press release.
“Our most recently mined stope yielded an average head grade of 10.0 g/t Au including a peak daily head grade of 13.1 g/t Au, and provided mill feed for multiple consecutive days setting single-day and multi-day production records. These high grades remind us of how special this orebody is and of the world-class potential Red Lake deposits are known for,” he added.
Pure Gold currently has 17 stopes designed and ready for development over the next three months, representing approximately 70,000 tonnes of ore with an estimated average grade of 6.0-7.0 g/t Au, in line with expected grades from the feasibility study.
With the mine entering the final stages of ramp-up, the company anticipates declaring commercial production at or near the end of the second quarter, based on its ongoing assessment of both ore throughput and gold production.
Shares of Pure Gold Mining surged 12.7% by 12:20 p.m. ET following the latest update. The soon-to-be Canada’s next gold producer has a market capitalization of C$605.2 million.
