SOLID progress is being made with the ramp-up of commercial gold production from Red 5 Limited’s Siana Gold Project in the Philippines. During July there were 4916 ounces of gold recovered from the processing of 64,567 tonnes of ore, a performance that reflects an increase in mine grade from the bottom of the open pit.

The July production compared with production of 11,007 ounces for the June 2015 quarter and 23,645 ounces for the financial year, which reflected production only for the second half after operations restarted in January 2015.

Reconciliations of ore tonnes and grade continue to exceed expectations against the block model which is considered to be a positive indication for the grade profile of the open pit over the next 18 months.

This strong production effort was achieved despite the material movement in the east wall of the open pit in early July. Red 5 has maintained its production guidance for the September quarter of 11,000-13,000 ounces and approximately 40,000 ounces for the 2016 financial year.

In a company statement in late August, Red 5 said that a total of 32,839 tonnes @ 2.61 grams/tonne of ore and 155,922 bank cubic metres (BCM) of waste was moved ex-pit during the month of July. An additional 104,279 BCM of waste material, mainly relating to the east perimeter drain, was also moved during the month.

Ore stockpiles on hand at the end of July 2015 totalled about 52,000 tonnes, compared with about 87,000 tonnes at the end of the June quarter. Reds 5 said excellent progress had been made with the removal of sloughed material at the eastern pit wall and re-siting of the perimeter ring drain on the eastern side of the open pit was also advancing well.

The Siana processing plant continues to perform strongly with a total of 64,567 tonnes of ore processed for the month of July while good progress is being made with construction of the stage 2 embankment lifts for the high density polyethylene lined Tailing Storage Facility (TSF5) together with TSF3.

Mining activity at Siana has been focused on open pit mining of the Stage III pit design and associated remediation of the eastern wall, the east perimeter ring drain, Stage II of the open pit design as the immediate source of ore, and Stage IV as resources allow.