Tuesday, July 12, 2011 by John Phillips
The gross revenues of US$270m from gold production at Masbate for financial year 2011 could be just the beginning for CGA Mining, with the company allocating a substantial US$20m exploration budget for the next year to boost gold reserves.CGA Mining (ASX: CGA, TSX: CGX) continues to deliver from the Masbate Gold Project in the Philippines, with the company pouring over 190,000 gold ounces during financial year 2011, a 27% increase of the previous corresponding period.
Spot gold averaged around US$1400 an ounce during the one year period, providing gross revenues of US$270 million.
The production was achieved from a throughput level of almost 6.2 million dry tonnes, a 37% boost over financial year 2010.
The anticipated upside for Masbate are these results are likely to be just the beginning, with the company allocating a US$20 million exploration budget for financial year 2012.
CGA has planned to undertake an extensive 144,000 metres of reverse circulation drilling, and 28,000 metres of diamond drilling, principally focused on converting Inferred resources to Reserves.
The company also aims to identify new Reserves and Resources from both extensions to existing pits and a number of new targets.
September 2011 quarter production
CGA Mining said that production however for the September 2011 quarter will be impacted as mechanical repairs are carried out on the SAG mill.
The company added that it had extensive insurance policies which are available for both repairs and loss of profits claims, subject to normal deductibles.
A crack in one of the segments in the discharge end of the SAG mill was identified earlier in the week.
The SAG mill was shut down and will now be disassembled and repaired.
CGA Mining said that full technical assessments are not yet available, but the company currently estimates that these repairs will cost in the order of $0.5 million and could take up to three months to complete.
Full capacity of the plant will therefore be restored during the next quarter.
Masbate - by the numbers
CGA Mining successfully poured the first gold in May 2009 to kick off production from Masbate.
The project has a total Indicated Resource of 4.55 million ounces (153.41 million tonnes at 0.92g/t), a total Inferred Resource of 3.22 million ounces (127.15 million tonnes at 0.79g/t), and a Probable Reserve of 3.03 million ounces (92.2 million tonnes at 1.0g/t) of gold.
Masbate poured 150,000 gold ounces in the first year of operation, and is on track to produce at a rate of around 200,000 ounces annually.
CGA Mining is currently upgrading the process plant to lock in a throughput rate of 6.5Mtpa.
http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/17797/cga-mining-gold-production-jumps-27-to-190000-ounces-at-masbate-in-year-to-june-17797.html
