Borneo to boost gold production capacity at Ratatotok
Tuesday, July 1 2014 - 12:48 AM WIB
US firm Borneo Resource Investments Ltd. a mining company that mines gold and develops producing gold mining properties in Indonesia, announced Monday it is building its second processing area to extract more gold from ore at its Ratatotok South property in Southeast Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi Province.
Borneo said in a statement that the infrastructure expansion will triple the company's gold production at the property.
Borneo acquired Ratatotok South, one of its three contiguous Ratatotok properties, in December 2013 through its subsidiary PT Puncak Kalabat. The 8.5 hectare property, located in the middle of a well-established gold reef area, became the company's second producing gold mine. Borneo started mining the property shortly after its acquisition and completed its first full production run in May 2014.
Ratatotok South's current heap leach processing area yields 2 - 3 kilograms of gold per month from approximately 2,500 metric tons of ore. Borneo is now building its second heap leach processing area on its Ratatotok properties which will provide an additional monthly ore processing capacity of 5,000 metric tons. Upon completion of the second heap leach processing area in July, Ratatotok South is expected to have the capacity to process a total of approximately 7,500 metric tons of ore per month, yielding about 7 - 10 kilograms (245 - 350 ounces) of gold per month.
"We are pleased with how quickly we've ramped up production at Ratatotok South. The gold yields we've seen to date from the ore warrant our investment in building this second heap leach processing area, which we believe will significantly increase our production at this property and be able to serve all three of our Ratatotok properties. We anticipate beginning production at Ratatotok, and at Ratatotok Southeast, later this year," stated Borneo CEO Nils Ollquist.
"By being on-site and supervising day-to-day operations, we are producing the kind of results we want to see from our acquired properties. As we increase our number of acquired and producing properties, we are looking for meaningful scaling opportunities in the quantities of gold produced and sold."
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak