Perseus Mining is an Australian company focused on West African gold resources. Shares in the company went up as it announced its first pouring of gold from the Central Ashanti Gold Project in Ghana.
The first gold pour of 2,666 grams represents gold recovered from the gravity circuit of the CAGP. Perseus managing director Mark Calderwood said that it was another milestone for the company as it progressed though early commissioning of its mill.
In a formal statement from Perseus Mining it mentioned that limited initial sampling during commissioning of the process facility indicates excellent gravity gold recovery, high gold leaching recovery from gravity concentrates and high concentrate gold grades produced from the flotation circuit, with grades averaging in excess of 30g/t gold.
Mark Calderwood added that they were pleased with the high gravity recoveries and high float concentrate gold grades recorded given that we fed low grade ore averaging less that 0.6g/t gold into the mill in this initial test period.
The Company plans to produce at the initial rate of about 220,000 ounces of gold in the first year of commercial production and to increase this to about 280,000 ounces per annum in the second year. The company also wants to develop the Tengrela Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire with production targeted for 2013 with the potential to produce 400,000 ounces of gold per year.