PRECIOUS METALS

Gruyere gets crushing

Pathway to first gold remains on time and within the revised budget

Staff reporter

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As of January 18, construction at the project, 200km west of Laverton, was 91% complete.

Contractor Downer EDI mined the first ore this month. A significant amount of ore will be stockpiled ahead of first production.

Another key milestone has been the introduction of material through the primary crusher to the coarse ore stockpile.

Piping, electrical and instrumentation installations are continuing in the rest of the plant.

Argonaut Securities analyst James Wilson forecasts the carbon-in-leach circuit to be commissioned early next month.

"Commissioning on smaller processing plants takes about 8-10 weeks before first gold," he said.

"We see Gruyere having a longer lead time because of its size with dry commissioning starting in mid-January and wet commissioning in mid-February to early April."

The project remains on schedule for first gold in the June quarter and within the revised budget of A$621 million.

Once ramped up, the mine is expected to produce around 300,000 ounces of gold per annum at all-in sustaining costs of $1025 an ounce over a mine life of 12 years, as per a recently updated life-of-mine plan.

Shares in Gold Road gained 5% this morning to 73c, around the mid-point of its 52-week range of 59-85c.

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