Greenstone’s mine looking rosy

The first bar has been poured at Central America’s largest gold mine, the Santa Rosa.

To date, more than 400,000 tonnes of ore have been extracted from the Panamanian open-pit operation, which is owned by Greenstone Resources (TSE). Production has increased to 100,000 tonnes per month and the average mined grade is 2.29 grams gold per tonne, considerably higher than the expected 1.79 grams. Fast recoveries contributed to the solid production figures.

Moreover, Greenstone expects average cash production costs could drop to US$175 per oz., well below the forecasted rate of US$225 per oz. This, in turn, could either extend the current mine life to 14 years or increase annual production to more than the designed rate of 60,000 oz. (1.9 million grams).