Monument To Increase Gold Production
Monument Mining Limited (TSXV: MMY) (FSE: D7Q1) has announced that it will proceed with the Phase III expansion plan for its Selinsing mine and gold treatment plant. This expansion will include an additional milling, gravity and leach circuit.
Production Increase Planned: Having successfully reached commercial production with its 400,000 tonne per annum gold treatment plant and building cash reserves, the Company will commence construction of its planned Phase III expansion to lift the gold treatment plant capacity to 1,000,000 tonne per annum.
This 250% expansion in production capacity will be funded from current cash reserves, is expected to cost less than C$8,000,000 and will result in a projected pay-back of 3 months from operating cash flow. The expansion is scheduled to reach practical completion by the end of calendar year 2011 and be in full operation by April 2012.
There will be some disruption to the present operations during construction and commissioning of the new equipment, however the Company projects gold production will remain at 40,000 ounces of gold for year ended 30th June 2011 and increase to no less than 50,000 ounces per year for the year ending 30th June 2012. The company will make further announcement on the projected gold production targets from June, 2012 onwards pending plant commissioning and the 2011 exploration program resulting in a new reserve and resource statement.
The development and construction of the current mine and processing facility has shown the Company has built the capability to design, permit and construct low cost and efficient treatment facilities. This owner capability will be utilized to project manage the Phase III expansion.
General Manager, Kevin Wright who oversaw the construction of the existing mine and mill stated “this plant will not only provide an increase in production capability and operating efficiency but will also provide necessary operating flexibility for processing blended feed as the operations mature. Extensions to the ore zones identified by our exploration efforts along strike and down dip are likely to produce an increase in variability of ore types and our in-house design team has taken this into account”.
Accelerated 2011 Exploration Program: The overall objective of the current exploration program is to convert existing inferred resources to reserves, add replacement ore and increase reserve and resource ounces with a target to exceed 1,000,000 ounces to demonstrate at least a 10 year mine life. This will be facilitated through the drilling of approximately 19,000 meters of drilling (mostly diamond drilling) in the next 12 months with four in-house rigs and one contract diamond drill rig.
The Company has an approved exploration budget of $4,400,000 for this year (including two new Diamond drill rigs) and has been ramping up exploration capacity. In addition to the in-house team comprising an experienced VP of Exploration, an exploration manager and a team of four field geologists and five pit production geologists, the company is currently assembling additional drilling crews so that its four in-house drill rigs can operate on a two-shift per day basis.
The company will continue to use the oversight of Snowden International Mining Consultants of Perth, Western Australia for its QA/QC program and their QP for production and review of the NI-43-101 Report. The next reserve and resource report presently underway is due for announcement in Q4, 2011.
Monument Mining Limited, a Canadian based firm, has two wholly-owned principal properties: Selinsing Gold Mine Project (“Selinsing”); and Damar Buffalo Reef Prospect (“Buffalo Reef”); which are located in Pahang State in the Central Gold Belt District of Malaysia. In addition, the Company recently acquired the Famehub properties comprising 32,000 acres of prospective exploration land.
In conjunction with extensive exploration programs at Selinsing, Buffalo Reef and the Famehub properties, the Selinsing Gold Mine is scheduled to produce approximately 40,000 ounces of gold in its first full year of commercial production to June 30, 2011 at an estimated average operating cash cost of approximately $317 per ounce with an initial five year mine life.
Posted March 3, 2011
