Allied Gold sees hiked ouput

AUSTRALIA-based Al-lied Gold, which owns projects in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, could increase its production to 320,000 ounces per annum by 2015, the company said recently.
According to miningweekly.com, this comes as a pre-feasibility study indicated that it could increase its output at its Simberi project, in New Irelands, as the development of sulphides was technically feasible and economically viable.
“The growing oxide and sulphide resource endowment at Simberi, which currently stands at 6.2moz, warrants a production platform of at least 200,000oz/y,” chairman Mark Caruso said.
The study indicated that a larger treatment plant of 2.5 million tonnes a year, as opposed to the current 1.5 million tonne a year capacity, could be appropriate, given the additional sulphide resources that could be discovered and to allow Allied Gold leverage and exposure to future gold price movements.
The Simberi ox-ide/sulphide circuit had the potential to produce between 250,000oz/y and 300,000oz/y of gold, Caruso said.
He added that Allied Gold was also confident that the sulphides and oxides resource inventory would increase as a result of the planned aggressive drilling programme.