Australian PanTerra Gold restarts operations at Las Lagunas gold and silver project

Australian PanTerra Gold restarted operations at its Las Lagunas gold and silver project, in the Dominican Republic, adding that the feed issues to the Albion carbon-in-leach processing plant had been resolved.

Earlier this month, PanTerra warned that first gold and silver production from Las Lagunas would be delayed, after the miner suspended operations at the processing plant. First dore was initially expected by mid-June, while first sales were expected by July.

In a statement, executive chairperson Brian Johnson said this week that a newly installed bucket wheel dredge was now delivering feed to the plant at a better-than-required delivery and density, and with substantial reserve capacity.

A second identical dredge would be purchased in the near future to ensure a backup for continuous operations.

The 100% owned Las Lagunas project involves the reprocessing of high grade gold/silver refractory tailings from the Pueblo Viejo mine located approximately 105km to the north of Santo Domingo, the capital of the  Caribbean nation.

The tailings were derived from open pit operations at the mine between 1992 and 1999, and are impounded in a purpose-built valley-catchment dam. The mine is currently being redeveloped by Barrick Gold Corp at a cost of over $3 billion.