K92 Mining has announced its production results for the third quarter (Q3) of 2023 at the Kainantu gold mine.
While suspension of underground mining was in place for nine days ofter the quarter, the mine produced strong results, including 22,227 ounces of gold and 1,784,009 pounds of copper.
The second half of September saw first ore tonnes mined from the twin incline. This occurred approximately two months earlier than expected.
“Having just completed a site visit at the Kainantu gold mine a few days ago, there is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm within the company for the near, medium and long-term, while certainly taking on board lessons learned from the first nine months of 2023 to make the operation stronger going forward,” K92 chief executive officer and director John Lewins said.
“Going forward, a major positive is the significant demonstrated available capacity of the process plant, which continues to exceed expectations and has provided the company with considerable optionality.”
Q3 saw a new monthly record hit, as September averaged 1542 tonnes of ore per day (tpd), while a new daily record was set on September 28 with 1867tpa recorded.
Lewins said the company is now looking ahead to 2024
“Progressively over the next 12 months, the infrastructure upgrades made to the underground mine are expected to be transformational, providing a significant boost to mine flexibility and productivity, which in conjunction with a tripling of mining fronts in 2024, is projected to materially boost the production capacity of the underground mine,” he said.
“Exploration is significantly progressing at both our vein and porphyry targets, and in addition to progressing our existing programs, we expect to expand the number of high-priority targets drilled concurrently in the near-term.”
K92 expects that Q4 will be the mine’s strongest quarter for the year due to higher grade stoping and ore development.
