TIDMSRB
For immediate release
15 April 2019
Serabi Gold plc
("Serabi" or the "Company")
A strong start with over 10,000 ounces produced in the first quarter of
2019
Serabi Gold plc (AIM: SRB, TSX: SBI), the Brazilian focused gold mining
and development company, is pleased to provide the results and a review
of its first quarter operational and development activities in the
Tapajos region of Para State, Northern Brazil.
OPERATIONAL and DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS
-- First quarter gold production of 10,164 ounces of gold, maintaining the
momentum from the end of 2018.
-- Second successive quarter of production above 10,000 ounces for the first
time.
-- Mine tonnage totalled 42,609 tonnes at 7.47 grams per tonne ("g/t") of
gold.
-- 43,451 tonnes of run of mine ("ROM") ore were processed through the plant
from the combined Palito and Sao Chico orebodies, with an average grade
of 7.69 g/t of gold.
-- 1,868 metres of horizontal development completed during the quarter.
-- Completion and announcement of the Company's updated mineral resource
estimate for its Coringa gold project ("Coringa"):
-- the new mineral resource estimate represents a 37% increase over
the previously disclosed estimation (as of May 3, 2017).
-- an Indicated Resource for Coringa of 216,000 ounces of contained
gold (845,000 tonnes at an average in-situ grade of 7.95 g/t).
-- an additional Inferred Resource of 298,000 ounces of contained
gold (1,436,000 tonnes at an average in-situ grade of 6.46 g/t).
-- Production guidance for 2019 is maintained in the range of 40,000-44,000
ounces representing a significant improvement on 2018 production of
37,108 ounces.
Key Operational Information
SUMMARY PRODUCTION STATISTICS TO DATE FOR 2019 AND
2018
Qtr 1 Qtr 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 Total
------------- --------------
2019 2018 2018 2018 2018 2018
------------- -------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ -------
Gold
production
(1) (2) Ounces 10,164 9,188 9,563 8,101 10,256 37,108
Mined ore --
Total Tonnes 42,609 39,669 36,071 42,725 44,257 162,722
Gold grade (g/t) 7.47 7.49 8.12 6.23 7.45 7.29
Milled ore Tonnes 43,451 43,145 38,155 41,405 45,548 168,253
Gold grade (g/t) 7.69 7.04 7.71 6.11 7.39 7.06
Horizontal
development
-- Total Metres 1,868 2,353 2,744 2,814 2,460 10,371
1. Gold production figures are subject to amendment pending final agreed
assays of the gold content of the copper/gold concentrate and gold
doré that is delivered to the refineries.
2. Gold production totals for 2019 include treatment of 3,136 tonnes of
flotation tails at a grade of 4.00 g/t (2018 full year: 16,466 tonnes at
3.71g/t)
3. The table may not sum due to rounding.
Mike Hodgson, CEO, said:
"With production for the first quarter of 10,164 ounces of gold, this
has been another excellent quarter and continues the momentum of the
fourth quarter of 2018 when we also produced over 10,000 ounces in the
quarter. This is the first time that the operations have achieved two
successive quarters with gold production above 10,000 ounces and puts
the Company in a strong position to meet its 2019 production guidance
and significantly improve on the 2018 production level of 37,108 ounces
of gold.
"Mine output remains very steady, with performance very much in line
with 2018. The plant continued to perform very well during the quarter,
processing over 43,000 tonnes of hard rock ore with mill feed grades of
7.69g/t being 8% higher than the 2018 average.
"Development and production of the Palito orebody remains focussed on
the Pipocas, Senna, Zonta and Mogno veins, whilst lateral ore
development of the Sao Chico orebody is now being advanced on both the
-19mRL and the -33mRL levels.
"We remain focussed on improving efficiencies and growing production
especially in light of the exciting potential that the 2018 exploration
results have identified, in particular around the Sao Chico deposit.
Whilst to expand production we could look to simply add additional
milling capacity, the old adage 'tonnes cost, grade pays' is an
expression we live by. Therefore, the first step to producing more
ounces out of our existing infrastructure is the installation of an ore
sorter, which will help screen out waste rock from crushed mill feed
ahead of the plant, improving grade and therefore ounces. I am pleased
to report that the ore sorter is now in transit to Brazil and will be
commissioned in the second half of the year. Whilst we are not
forecasting production benefits from the ore sorter in 2019, we are
planning for its impact to be significant in 2020.
"I also previously advised that to improve gold production we took
delivery towards the end of 2018 of a 'scrubber', an item of equipment
that will allow us to feed and process, more easily, the stockpile of
historic flotation tailings. This equipment has now been commissioned
and after some minor adjustments, we should begin to realise the full
benefits in this second quarter.
"Whilst the operational performance of the quarter has been noteworthy,
the other significant news for the Company was the 37 per percent
increase in the total geological resource at Coringa. Following the
exploration drilling campaign that was started in the fourth quarter of
2018, total mineral resources now exceed 500,000 ounces at over 7.0 g/t
of gold, a substantial improvement on the previous estimate of 370,000
ounces issued in May 2017. Following on from this updated geological
resource modelling, we are preparing a Preliminary Economic Assessment
("PEA"), the results of which the Company expects to announce before the
end of June 2019.
"In parallel, we are continuing to progress the permitting of the
Coringa project. Following the award of the trial mining licence for
the project during the second quarter of 2018, we have cleared the
surface areas to expose the initial mine portal and are awaiting the
award of blasting licenses to begin underground development.
"As was reported at the end of March 2019 and in light of recent events
involving tailings dams in Brazil, we are permitting the Coringa project
with the intention of installing a filtration plant allowing for the dry
stacking of tails and eliminating the need for a conventional tailings
dam. The state environmental agency, SEMAS, have already approved the
original environmental impact assessment ("EIA") on the basis of a
conventional dam and we are working with them on this amendment and to
arrange the necessary public hearings, which we hope will be held in the
coming quarter, following which we will hope to receive the Preliminary
Licence ("Licencia Previa") during the second half of the year.
"With an excellent start to the year, I anticipate continued production
success throughout 2019. Further, with the new updated resource at
Coringa and the forthcoming PEA, we look forward to further positive
progress on licencing and permitting and I look forward to reporting
further positive news in the coming months".
Production Results
Total production for the first quarter of 2019 was 10,164 ounces of gold,
generated from the processing of 43,451 tonnes of ore at overall average
grades of 7.69 g/t of gold. This processed ore was sourced from hard
rock mined ore from the Palito and Sao Chico orebodies, supplemented by
the processing of 3,136 tonnes of surface stockpiled flotation tailings
grading approximately 4.0 g/t gold. Mined tonnage for the quarter
totalled 42,609 tonnes with a grade of 7.47 g/t of gold.
On 31 March 2019, there were coarse ore stocks of approximately 6,600
tonnes of ore with an average grade of 2.67 g/t of gold, and
approximately 30,000 tonnes of flotation tails with an average grade of
3.00 g/t of gold. These stockpiles are being consumed, albeit not as
quickly as forecast, and for now the operation remains plant
constrained.
A total of 1,868 metres of horizontal development has been completed
during the quarter, of which approximately 926 metres was ore
development. The balance is the ramp, cross cuts and stope preparation
development.
2019 Production Guidance
The Company confirms its guidance for 2019 gold production, which is
forecast to be in the range of 40,000-44,000 ounces.
This announcement is inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of
Regulation 596/2014.
The person who arranged for the release of this announcement on behalf
of the Company was Clive Line, Director.
Enquiries:
Serabi Gold plc
Michael Hodgson Tel: +44 (0)20 7246 6830
Chief Executive Mobile: +44 (0)7799 473621
Clive Line Tel: +44 (0)20 7246 6830
Finance Director Mobile: +44 (0)7710 151692
Email: mailto:contact@serabigold.com
contact@serabigold.com
--------------------------------------------------
Website: http://www.serabigold.com
www.serabigold.com
--------------------------------------------------
Beaumont Cornish Limited
Nominated Adviser and Financial Adviser
Roland Cornish Tel: +44 (0)20 7628 3396
Michael Cornish Tel: +44 (0)20 7628 3396
Peel Hunt LLP
UK Broker
Ross Allister Tel: +44 (0)20 7418 8900
James Bavister Tel: +44 (0)20 7418 8900
Copies of this announcement are available from the Company's website at
www.serabigold.com.
Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange, nor any other securities regulatory
authority, has approved or disapproved of the contents of this
announcement.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
The following is a glossary of technical terms:
"Au" means gold.
"assay" in economic geology, means to analyse the proportions of metal
in a rock or overburden sample; to test an ore or mineral for
composition, purity, weight or other properties of commercial interest.
"development" - excavations used to establish access to the mineralised
rock and other workings
"DNPM" is the Departamento Nacional de Produção Mineral.
"grade" is the concentration of mineral within the host rock typically
quoted as grammes per tonne (g/t), parts per million (ppm) or parts per
billion (ppb).
"g/t" means grams per tonne.
"granodiorite" is an igneous intrusive rock similar to granite.
"igneous" is a rock that has solidified from molten material or magma.
"Intrusive" is a body of igneous rock that invades older rocks.
"on-lode development" - Development that is undertaken in and following
the direction of the Vein
"mRL" -- depth in metres measured relative to a fixed point -- in the
case of Palito and Sao Chico this is sea-level. The mine entrance at
Palito is at 250mRL.
"saprolite" is a weathered or decomposed clay--rich rock.
"scrubber" -- a machine for cleaning ore and removing impurities such as
clays, coatings or other deleterious materials.
"stoping blocks" -- a discrete area of mineralised rock established for
planning and scheduling purposes that will be mined using one of the
various stoping methods.
"vein" is a generic term to describe an occurrence of mineralised rock
within an area of non-mineralised rock.
Qualified Persons Statement
The scientific and technical information contained within this
announcement has been reviewed and approved by Michael Hodgson, a
Director of the Company. Mr Hodgson is an Economic Geologist by training
with over 26 years' experience in the mining industry. He holds a BSc
(Hons) Geology, University of London, a MSc Mining Geology, University
of Leicester and is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and
Mining and a Chartered Engineer of the Engineering Council of UK,
recognising him as both a Qualified Person for the purposes of Canadian
National Instrument 43-101 and by the AIM Guidance Note on Mining and
Oil & Gas Companies dated June 2009.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this announcement are, or may be deemed to be,
forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identi ed by
their use of terms and phrases such as "believe", "could", "should"
"envisage", "estimate", "intend", "may", "plan", "will" or
the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including
references to assumptions. These forward looking statements are not
based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current
expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth,
results of operations, performance, future capital and other
expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding
thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities.
Such forward looking statements re ect the Directors' current beliefs
and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the
Directors. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ
materially from the results discussed in the forward looking statements
including risks associated with vulnerability to general economic and
business conditions, competition, environmental and other regulatory
changes, actions by governmental authorities, the availability of
capital markets, reliance on key personnel, uninsured and underinsured
losses and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the
Company. Although any forward looking statements contained in this
announcement are based upon what the Directors believe to be reasonable
assumptions, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results
will be consistent with such forward looking statements.
ENDS
Attachment
-- Q1 2019 Operational Update
https://ml-eu.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/c8a62a17-53e8-47e6-b235-8878419fb362
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 15, 2019 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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