- First underground ore produced at the Craic gold mine – a milestone event
- Gold production in September quarter exceeded minimum estimates at 8,199 ounces
- Open pit mining of the Craic gold mine has been completed
- Open pit mining of Ramornie North and Sarah planned to commence in the December quarter
Range River Gold Ltd
(ASX:RNG) has reached a milestone event with the first underground gold ore produced from the Craic gold mine.
This represents the next major step in the Company achieving its goal of 100,000 ounces of gold (oz Au) production per annum. Production for the September quarter, from the above ground operations only, was 8,199 oz Au.
Open pit mining of the Craic gold mine has been completed as planned and progress is being made on bringing Ramornie North and Sarah into the plan as open pit gold mines.
Managing Director, Rick Watsford commented:
The production of the first underground ore from the Craic is a significant milestone. The production plan and the plan to achieve 100,000 oz Au pa are underpinned by underground mining initially at the Craic and then the re opening of the Transvaal and Westralia underground mines. There is also excellent opportunity for underground mining at Morgans North and Millionaires.
This milestone adds to the number of positive achievements by Range River Gold Ltd (ASX:RNG). The potential resource base has been significantly increased and major advances made in bringing new deposits into the open pit production plan.
Excellent progress is being made with these steps in the development of a production plan that includes both underground and open pit resources.
The production result for the September quarter at 8,199 oz Au exceeded our previous minimum guidance.
It is pleasing that despite some operational setbacks in September, such as wet weather and equipment issues, that production was within our advice range.
Our focus over the coming weeks will be progress of the underground development of the Craic, re-opening of the Transvaal underground mine and bringing into the schedule the new open pit ore sources.
