ALLIED Gold is eyeing a 60% ramp-up in gold throughput from its flagship, the A$87 million (K222.6 million) Simberi project in the Tabar Islands, Papua New Guinea, as the Perth-based miner gets ready for first production from the project next month.
At the company’s annual general meeting in Perth yesterday, Allied Gold non-executive director Greg Steemson told shareholders the company expected a ramp up in gold production from the initial planned production target of 84,000oz per annum to 135,000ozpa from its wholly-owned project.
Steemson said production gains would come from new plans to boost Simberi’s 2.2mt per annum carbon-in-leach (CIL) processing plant to at least 3.2mtpa.
Engineering studies for this upgrade have been completed.
The company will spend most of 2008 bedding down current production expectations and expanding the oxide reserve base to underpin planned production increase.
The CIL expansion was scheduled to come online in the second half of 2009.