GV Gold's Taryn project overshoots 2017 target nearly 60%, mines 57 koz gold
MOSCOW. Dec 21 (Interfax) - GV Gold's (PJSC Vysochaishy) recently commissioned Taryn mine and recovery plant at the Drazhnoye deposit in Yakutia will produce 57 koz (1.8 tonnes) of gold this year, overshooting its target by 58%.
The company said in a press release that 15 koz (0.48 tonnes) of the gold was recovered from gravity flotation concentrate.
Commercial development at Drazhnoye began in 2017. The open pit has produced 663,000 tonnes of ore since February. The Taryn recovery plant was started in May and fully commissioned in the summer, processing 530,000 tonnes of ore with an average grading of 3.72 g/t in May-December.
The recovery plant achieved exceeded end-to-end Au recovery of 94.42% in December, exceeding design recovery of 93.51%. Average recovery for the year was 63.4%, above a planned 60.3%.
The Taryn Mine Stage 1 design capacity is 700 kt of ore pa with annual production of up to 87 koz (2.7 tonnes) gold. "We'll be producing up to 3 tonnes of gold, including gravity flotation concentrate, as early as next year," German Pikhoya, GV Gold's CEO, was quoted as saying in the press release. "We continue to look at the potential for increasing output at the enterprise further," he said.
Taryn holds regional investment project status. Its mine life will last at least until 2029.
GV Gold is one of Russia's 15 biggest gold producers and operates in the Irkutsk region and Yakutia. It produces over 5 tonnes of gold per year.
GV Gold's largest shareholders are Lanta Bank CEO Sergei Dokuchayev, Lanta Bank deputy CEO Natalia Opaleva and LT-Resurs CEO Valerian Tikhonov, who each control 20.36% of shares. BlackRock funds hold 17.99%, Cyprus-based Brishurt Ltd holds 6.37%, quasi-treasury stock makes up 8.21% and minority shareholders have 6.35%.