Alkane Resources has outdone its production guidance at the Tomingley gold operations in New South Wales off the back of higher ore grades.
The company surpassed its gold production guidance (50,000 ounces to 55,000 ounces) for the 2021 financial year, producing 56,958 ounces of gold.
Alkane’s preliminary all-in sustaining cost (AISC) at Tomingley reached $1320 per ounce with the guidance range between $1400 ounces to $1550 ounces.
According to Alkane managing director Nic Earner, Tomingley is a valuable asset that has surpassed the company’s expectations.
“Tomingley continues to meet or exceed our expectations, demonstrating why it is a great asset managed by a highly professional and committed operations team,” he said.
“With an updated mine plan that extends the life of Tomingley to at least 2031, at increased production rates, we remain buoyant about the longer-term prospects both at Tomingley and at our Boda exploration tenements.
“Alkane’s board and management acknowledge and thank the teams at Tomingley and in exploration for their strong and continued safety, production and discovery performance.”
In June, Alkane announced it would be mining the Roswell and San Antonio resources at Tomingley as part of its mine life extension.
Both resources will begin open cut and underground mining from the 2023 financial year.
Alkane has anticipated it will mine around 745,000 ounces of gold through to 2031 with processing increasing to a 1.5 million tonne per annum feed rate.
“We intend to increase our processing throughput and ramp production to over 100,000 ounces per year from the 2025 financial year, whilst continuing production at the current run rate in the interim,” ” Earner said in June.
“With the high-grade Roswell deposit open at depth, there is real potential for further increases in production in the late 2020s.
Alkane’s production guidance for Tomingley in the 2022 financial year is 55,000 to 60,000 ounces at an AISC of $1450 to $1600 per ounce.