The Cononish gold mine in Argyll has been producing both gold concentrate and gravity-separated gold ore - a semi-pure alloy of gold and silver - following the resolution of various outstanding problems affecting the plant announced on 27 April.

At the end of April, Scotgold stated that various technical issues had been resolved, but the company would require further funding before being able to increase production.

In a production and corporate update issued on June 1, Scotgold Resources revealed that the first shipment was made on 11 May, with 25 tonnes of concentrate - at an average of 182.4 grams per tonne of gold - exceeding the target of 150 grams per tonne, achieving maximum price within the agreed terms within the off-take agreement.

Modest amounts of gravity gold ore was also produced and sent to refiners for further treatment.

Scotgold Resources said it was encouraged with the mine and process plant performance, although performance has been intermittent to date.

On given days throughout April and May both the mine and process plant have been achieving near design rates of production. The firm added that it is also pleased with the quality of ore that has been mined and produced through the process plant.

Scotgold’s focus is to further enhance safe production through consistency and stability of mine and process plant operations, in parallel with the opening of multiple faces of ore in the underground mine itself.

The current limited available number of ore faces limits the immediate ability to focus on the highest-grade zones of the Cononish ore body.

The statement by Scotgold Resources reads: “Having proved that the mine and processing plant can operate as designed, our focus is on reducing outages through more efficient management of spares and having further redundancy in our mining mobile fleet with the arrival of the second haulage DUX truck.”

The firm expects to inform the market through regular monthly updates going forward, where a focus on forward looking statements is expected including the ramp-up of production and new estimates for gold production.