Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Dual-listed Galantas Gold (TSX, LON:GAL) is expanding capacity of the processing plant at its Omagh mine in Northern Ireland, with the goal of producing 2,000-2,5000 ounces of concentrate per month in the 2020-21 financial year.
The company, which is already running an extended dayshift, plans to add a second milling shift late in the June quarter. More shifts will be added in the September quarter.
Galantas’ processing plant produces gold and silver concentrate using a non-toxic, froth-flotation process on a batch basis from a stockpile of underground vein material and additional feed from on-vein development operations.
The miner is targeting production of 2,000 to 2,500 troy ounces of gold concentrate per month.
The miner, which kicked off the mine’s expansion in 2017 after the open-pit site was exhausted, said it could possibly expand the capacity further to 50,000 ounces of gold a year, though it would need to find additional resources to make it possible.
Galantas has identified targets for this purpose, with exploration set to be funded by part of profits generated from production.
Simultaneously, the company has continued on-vein development of Omagh, Northern Ireland’s only producing gold mine, with 32 metres of vein drive completed. The main decline tunnel is 423 metres in length, and the total of all underground drivages has exceeded 1,136 metres.
Looking ahead, the miner said the raising of £4 million in December has provided enough cash to have operations in a monthly cash positive position until the end of 2019.
“We have been able to put around half of the December 2018 placing funds to work and the benefits of that are now starting to accrue,” chief executive Roland Phelps said in the statement. “We continue to invest in safety and productivity improvements, with the goal of becoming Ireland’s premier, ecologically-secure, gold producer.”
Northern Ireland holds the world’s seventh-richest undeveloped seam of gold, but political violence kept most investors away for about three decades.
Shares in Galantas jumped 5.26% on the news to 5p in early trading in London.
