Porgera has best result In 3 years

The giant Porgera gold mine in the Enga province had its best quarter for three years during the

September period, pouring

245,934 ounces of gold, the Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) said.

This compares with just 161,637 ounces

in the previous corresponding period, and

continues a rising trend in production over the current year. Porgera has now produced 542,132 ounces over the past nine months, only marginally behind 553,779 ounces poured in the same period last year.

The PJV has attributed the increase to the “continued development of the high grade ore zone,” following an initial delay between pit stages earlier in the year.

“The shortfall in gold production caused by this delay is expected to be made up by the end of the year,” the PJV said. “The operation continues to position itself as a long term, low cost producer through improvements to recovery and throughput rates, combined with cost saving and

efficiency measures,” the PJV said. They

said the improving production profile

indicated that delays in mine scheduling experienced earlier this year have now been overcome.

While noting that average gold recovery of 80 per cent was two per cent better than budget, and 18.5 million tonnes were mined in the quarter compared to 17 million tonnes previously, the PJV failed to report cash production costs. The PJV also reported that mining equipment at the mine continue to improve, which will assist waste stripping and the increasing haul profile requirements.

They said specialised mining equipment was commissioned to deal with open pit mining around the old underground mine voids. The PJV also reported that the mill continued to perform well with throughput averaging 15322 tonnes per day, which was marginally lower than the previous quarter but the PJV said this was due to “planned mill relines”.

The mill throughput for September was

1.4 million tonnes compared with 1.5 million tonnes in the June quarter. Mill head grade averaged 6.5 grams of gold per tonne, which the PJV said was a “substantial improvement over 5.3 grams per tonne in the June quarter.”

The PJV also reported that the expansion of the rougher/scavenger flotation circuit was successfully commissioned in September, almost three months ahead of schedule, and is expected to “improve gold recoveries by more than 2 per cent of the on a life of mine average.”

Meanwhile, they also reported that the first low of new houses that are being constructed under the Paiam township

development agreement are “approaching

completion”. The PJV also reported that one of their priority activities is to achieve

exploration success, with drilling continuing

from the old underground workings.

The current shareholders in Porgera are; Placer Dome - 50 per cent, Goldfields Ltd - 25 per cent, and Orogen Minerals - 25 per cent. (Post Courier) ■