GoldStone Resources Limited has announced the commencement of ore stacking at its Homase Mine within its Akrokeri-Homase (AKHM) Gold Project, after beginning mining operations in April 2021.

Within a month, the Company has successfully stacked its first mined ore onto the heap leach pad. This follows the pre-stripping and clearing of the Homase mine site, which the Company says is performing well.

The Chief Executive Officer, Emma Priestly underscored that, “the stacking of ore is a pivotal step in the evolution of the Company as production starts at the Homase Mine.”

“Commencement of operations will lead to an ongoing revenue stream and will also establish a base for unlocking value in our AKHM project. I would like to thank the staff in Ghana for the successful start-up of the Homase Mine.”

Following the Company’s prescribed mining schedule for the year, the first eight months production of the mine is projected to produce 25,000 ounces of gold, at a total cash cost, pre-tax, of under $600 per ounce in June 2019.

That notwithstanding, the Company’s planned production for the first eight months now exceeds the Company’s original guidance of 14,400 ounces per annum, as stipulated in the Definitive Economic Plan of the Company.

Following the increase in mineable resource and the optimization review, the Company is in the process of updating the Definitive Economic Plan. And as such, it will update the market in Q3 2021.

“Having already increased our gold resources, announced 3rd December 2020, as a result of our exploration programme, we are now able to increase our planned production rate to around 50,000 ounces of gold per annum, including 25,000 ounces in calendar year 2021. This represents an increase of more than 300% from the original production schedule.”
Emma Priestly, CEO, GoldStone Resources

GoldStone highlights need for additional funding

The Company is also considering a review of available options for extracting saleable gold from loaded carbon it produces currently. In this regard, GoldStone notes that additional funding may be required in the coming months.

Goldstone expects to make a decision shortly, depending on the terms offered by existing third party processing facilities and any available financing options. The financing arrangement depends on the timing and cost linked with decisions including third parties for financing options, Gold Stone indicates.

Gold Stone reports that mechanical and electrical components linked with the dry plant for ore transport and stacking has been assembled. These include screening plant, grasshopper conveyors and an extendable stacker, as well as ore stacking has commenced.

The first two cells with a combined area 13,000m² of the heap leach pad have been commissioned. This has therefore, enabled stacking at an initial rate of 100 tonnes per hour to commence. And thus, this is ramping up to a target of 200 tonnes per hour.

Also, cyanide has been delivered and other reagents are on site, with expected completion of piping within the next two weeks followed by irrigation.

“A further benefit from the commencement of production at Homase is that exploration team will now be able to proceed with drilling the Homase Mineralised Trend that lies below and along strike of the current 602,000 ounce JORC resource, with a view to extending the mine’s original 5 year life.

“The exploration team has previously limited its work on this initiative, as the production start-up at Homase has been the Company’s priority.”

CEO, Emma Priestly, congratulated the GoldStone Team for a tremendous amount of hardwork to ensure the stacking of ore onto the heap leach pads, despite COVID-related delays.