Practical completion of E15 shaft at Co-O gold mine, Philippines...

Practical completion of E15 shaft at Co-O gold mine, Philippines​

Posted by John on 31st October 2018

Medusa Mining Ltd advises that the E15 Service shaft achieved practical completion on 28 October 2018 and final commissioning is continuing. Completion of E15 will expedite production from lower mine levels at Co-O mine.
Commenting on the milestone, Medusa Chairman Andrew Teo said: “We are delighted to announce the practical completion of the E15 Service Shaft and we look forward to its contribution in the second half of FY18. We expect the shaft to take the burden of manpower and material movements from the L8 Shaft, allowing for an increase in the skipping capacity from L8 Shaft and expedite development and production on the lower mine levels. Importantly, the completion of this key infrastructure would also facilitate the establishment of more ideally located drilling stations for continued expansion of the Co-O Resources and Reserves in due course.”
For the September quarter 2018, Co-O announced:
▪ Production: 24,177 oz at average head grade of 5.97 g/t Au (Jun 2018 quarter: 22,835 oz at average head grade of 5.74 g/t)
▪ Cash costs: $549/oz (Jun 2018 quarter: $595/oz)
▪ All-In Sustaining Costs (AISC): $1,126/oz (Jun 2018 quarter: $1,278/oz)
▪ Mill Performance: Gold recovery averaged 94.5% (Jun 2018 quarter: 94.5%)
▪ Mine development: Total advance was 7,898 m of horizontal and vertical development (Jun 2018 quarter: 7,566 m).
In the E15 Service Shaft – installation of the lower shaft steel work complete and practical completed for October 2018. Development of internal hoisting winzes – E43 completed to level 10 and E48 winze completed to level 10. E35 winze continued development past level 10 and commenced development of level 10 platform. Development of this winze will continue to level 12.
Underground resource drilling: Total drilling for the quarter was 10,471 m, a 2% decrease from last quarter. Key areas targeted were as follows: Reserve drilling at levels 5,6 and 7 totalled 3,158 m from 25 holes. Resource definition drilling at level 8 totalled 7,312 m from 15 holes. High-grade results from the resource drilling completed include 0.70 m @ 425.27 g/t Au, 3.55 m @ 60.28 g/t Au, 1.50 m @ 14.88 g/t Au and 0.20 m @ 210.40 g/t Au.
Near Mine Exploration: Reconnaissance activities within the mine environs identified two promising drill targets, the Royal Crowne Vein and Durian. Royal Crowne Vein lies 1.5 km north of the Co-O mine and intial results of current scout drilling campaign confirm gold mineralisation. Complete assay results are still pending receipt from the laboratory.
In December 2006 Medusa commenced redeveloping the Co-O mine in the Philippines with an initial production target of 40,000 oz/y. In September 2007 it decided to expand the production capacity by commencing a Phase 1 expansion to increase production to 60,000 oz annualised by the third quarter of 2009. Phase I was completed ahead of schedule by 31 March 2009 with annualised production of approximately 65,000 oz in the quarter. Phase 2 expansion to annualised production of 100,000 oz was completed in the March quarter 2010, on schedule.
In 2012, the company commenced its Phase 3 expansion to upgrade the mine hoisting capacity with the L8 shaft construction and to construct a new mill with 2,500 t/d capacity. Commissioning of the mill was completed in the March Quarter 2014.​