K92 makes record production in Q4, says CEO

THE Kainantu Gold Mine (K92) has delivered records in production, mill throughput, mine throughput, budget processing recoveries and an excellent start to stopping activities at Judd, its new mining front in its fourth quarter last year, an official says.
K92 chief executive officer and director John Lewins said the fourth quarter represented a major inflection point for Kainantu both operationally and with exploration.
“Operationally, we met our beginning of year goal of achieving stage two expansion mine and mill throughput by year-end and exceeded our updated production guidance,” he said.
Lewins said in 2022, the company looked to take another step forward with the stage 2A expansion, increasing nameplate throughput by more than 25 per cent to 500,000 tonnes per annum, targeting commissioning in the third quarter of 2022.
“On exploration, activities have recently shifted from an extended period of infill drilling at Kora to now almost entirely focused on resource growth. Step-out drilling is underway at Judd, Judd South, Kora, Kora South and also the Blue Lake porphyry.
“We certainly are excited about our 2022 exploration programme.”
Lewins noted that the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic had been a factor in fourth quarter, with a record surge of cases during the first two months driven by the Delta variant in PNG. He said the mine had a strong attachment to its local community and Papua New Guineans and it was especially painful to see the impact that Covid-19 had had.
He added that the mine had given K1 million in Covid-19 assistance to the Eastern Highlands provincial government in the final quarter of last year.
“I would like to once again thank the K92 workforce for their extraordinary commitment, dedication and resourcefulness.”