Equinox Gold said it made substantial advancement in establishing the footprint of the first phase of the Greenstone gold mine’s open pit in Ontario, Canada.
“Since commencing operations, the Greenstone mine has demonstrated good progress with both mining and processing rates increasing substantially during Q3 and into October,” said Equinox Gold President and CEO Greg Smith.
“The Greenstone team is focused on systematically ramping up both mining rates and plant throughput during the fourth quarter as the mine continues to progress toward design capacity. With approximately 42,500 ounces of gold produced in Q3 and 59,000 ounces produced since pouring first gold in May, we estimate 2024 production for Greenstone at 110,000 to 130,000 ounces.”
With continued expansion of the mining areas and the commissioning of additional haul trucks, Equinox reported the daily mining rate in October has averaged 145,000 t/d, steadily approaching the fourth quarter target of 170,000 t/d. The current operating mine fleet includes 25 CAT 793 haul trucks, with an additional four CAT 793 haul trucks expected to be commissioned in early 2025.
The mine’s plant processed a total of 1.3 million tonnes in the third quarter. Equinox said both the crushing and grinding circuits have demonstrated ample capacity to operate at the full production rate of 27,000 t/d and the current focus in the plant is on increasing operating availability and maintaining consistent throughput.
Source: Equinox Gold