Lake Shore Gold reported exceptional news today as they went over the details for their Q3 and first nine months of 2013 operational performance.
• Total Sales of 32.3k oz Au at a roughly $1,324 average
• Total Production up 35% over last year’s Q3 to 28.3k oz Au (25.9k oz poured)
With a 50% increase bringing capacity up to around 3k tonnes/day, the facility was able to handle 202.3k tonnes during the interval reported and pulled an average recovery percentage of 95.2% on the roughly 4.6 g/t ore. The company’s flagship operation, the Timmins West Mine, was responsible for the lion’s share of input at 148.4k tonnes grading 4.9 g/t. The Bell Creek Mine kicked in roughly 42.6k tonnes at 4.2 g/t and the 11.3k tonne remainder came out of some 1.6 g/t material LSG was sitting on and then ran during the mill expansion’s commissioning phase.
September alone saw a whopping 12.8k oz Au produced with the mill stomping away at over 3.37k tonnes/day average, well above the expansion capacity target, setting a new monthly production record for LSG. With the mill expansion so perfectly accomplished this quarter, LSG is now well on their way to easy satisfaction of the full year production target for 2013 of 120k to 135k ounces. Considering successful achievement of their other two primary goals for the year, keeping operating costs in the $800 to $875 per ounce range and doing it all for under $90M in capital investment, LSG is ideally situated for a strong finish in 2013.
Nov 5 (after market closes) is slated for a full breakdown of the Q3 plus nine months financial data, including capital outlays and operating costs, with a follow-up conference call planned for the day after. NI 43-101 Qualified Person for operations and development of the Timmins assets is 25-plus year veteran geoscientist and Senior VP of Operations for LSG, Dan Gagnon, who has also approved the data in today’s report in full. Production drilling/geology Qualified Person is the company’s VP of Exploration, Eric Kallio, a geologist with over three decades in the industry working for top players like Kinross and extensive knowledge of the Timmins area geology. Both of these guys were over at Placer Dome’s Dome Mine in the Timmins and have intimate knowledge of the geology, as well as working conditions/logistics, with Gagnon having even been General Manager of the Timmins and Musselwhite operations for Placer Dome.
President and CEO of LSG, Tony Makuch, was particularly proud of the new crushing and grinding circuit implemented at the mill, chalking their ridiculously good September production figures up to the superb infrastructure, as well as an observed/continued rise in overall grade levels. Makuch emphasized this last point by pointing to how, despite the incorporation of the low-grade material during commissioning, the company still pulled a 4.6 g/t average during Q3. Makuch also noted that the mine operations themselves are doing quite well, as LSG exited September with some 36k tonnes of run-of-mine ore in stockpile.
LSG has put in the manpower, time and capital to make their Timmins Complex assets really produce above expectations and investors should be looking to get in on the action here as Lake Shore Gold is now poised to reap the rich rewards of their investments in coming production cycles.
More info on Lake Shore Gold Corp. is available at www.LSGold.com
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