GPM Gold nearly doubles gold output in Armenia in 2011
YEREVAN. March 20 (Interfax) - GPM Gold, a gold mining division of the GeoProMining group (GPM) that is developing the Sotk deposit in Armenia, increased gold production by 90% to 41,443 ounces (1.28 tonnes) in 2011, company director Vladimir Kozlov said at a press conference on Monday.
He said the growth was driven by heavy investment. "Throughout 2009-2010 we invested in production and changed the focus of its operations, began to develop new sections of the deposit that were previously considered unpromising, introduced to methods of work," Kozlov said.
The company fine-tuned technology to mine ore from a gabbro block at the southern border of the mine, and set up a crushing and sorting unit. Previously the company shipped ore with a grade of less than 2 g/t Au to the mine reserves, but thanks to the new unit "we managed to lower this threshold to 1.5 grams," Kozlov said.
Ore processing at GPM Gold's Ararat gold recovery plant jumped 60% to 870,000 tonnes in 2011, ore mining increased by 80% to 880,000 tonnes, and removal of overburden was up 14% to 424,000 cubic meters.
Kozlov said the company closed last year "with a plus." The final financial results will be published following the completion of an international audit, he added.
GPM Gold invested $17.8 million in its operations in 2011, and the budget for 2012 calls for increasing investment to more than $80 million. Much of the money will be spent on introducing Albion Process technology, and modernization of the mine and gold recovery plant.
The company forecasts that commercial production could grow by 2-3% this year. It plans to stress preparation of ore for processing using the new technology, as a result of which removal of overburden is expected to increase by 40% and be maintained at this level for the next three years. The modernization of the enrichment plant is expected to boost gold production by three to four times in 2013-2014.
GPM, founded in 2001, is a private company with a diversified resource base. The group produces gold in Dore alloy, as well as copper, molybdenum and antimony concentrates. The group has mining and processing assets in Armenia, Georgia and Russia. In Armenia, GPM owns the Agarak Copper and Molybdenum Plant and GPM Gold.