Artemis Gold stock soars as Blackwater mine in British Columbia starts commercial output
Artemis Gold (TSXV: ARTG) shares skyrocketed to an all-time high Friday after the company said it had begun commercial production at its Blackwater open pit mine in central British Columbia, three months after pouring first gold.
Blackwater鈥檚 crushing circuit has reached a 17,700-tonne-per-day (tpd) rate, achieving more than full design capacity over the past 30 days, Artemis said. The mill has reached about 15,300 tpd or 93% of capacity.
鈥淲e completed construction in an industry-leading 22 months, and the team achieved commercial production in a remarkable three months from commencement of milling operations,鈥 Artemis CEO Steven Dean said in a release.
He added that the company will soon focus on potentially speeding up the proposed second stage expansion, which is expected to raise the mine鈥檚 average annual output to more than 500,000 gold-equivalent ounces.
Blackwater, located 450 km northeast of Vancouver, is the province鈥檚 first new gold mine since Newcrest鈥檚 – now Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) – Brucejack opened in 2017. Artemis鈥 production milestone coincides with recent historic high prices for gold, which touched $3,500.05 per oz. last week. The price has risen about 25% this year to date.
Company shares gained 8% to C$20.42 apiece on Friday at mid-day in Toronto, for a market capitalization of C$4.61 billion ($3.34bn).
Near-capacity tonnage
Mining in Blackwater鈥檚 open pit has delivered more than 90% of its planned tonnage. Both the 400-tonne and 600-tonne production excavators are fully deployed, Artemis said. Mined tonnes and grades based on grade control modeling are reconciling favourably to the resource model.
Since milling started at Blackwater in January, the company has produced about 30,000 oz. of gold. Artemis expects to produce 160,000 to 200,000 oz. at all-in sustaining costs (AISC) of $670-$770 per oz., for the eight-month period until Dec. 31. Total forecast production for this year is 190,000-230,000 oz. of gold.
In the year鈥檚 second half, output is forecast at 130,000 to 160,000 oz. of gold at estimated AISC聽of $645-$725 per ounce. AISC are expected to be somewhat higher in the two months remaining in the second quarter because of continued ramp-up in production.
AISC estimates for the eight months to the end of the year include sustaining capital of about C$16 million. Artemis expects stage one deferred expenditures of C$60 million to C$75 million in the eight months to Dec. 31, including building such infrastructure as an air strip and more water treatment facilities.
Artemis also plans to spend an initial C$3 million for front-end engineering and design work for the proposed stage two expansion.
Throughput for stage one is forecast at 6 million tonnes a year with 93% gold recovery, according to a 2021 feasibility study.
{{ commodity.name }}
{{ post.title }}
{{ post.date }}
Comments