New Gold has completed its first gold pour at its Rainy River mine, and the company’s commissioning plans remain on schedule. The first pour yielded approximately 500 ounces (oz) of gold and 600 oz of silver.
“Our team is proud to have delivered on all of the key project milestones since the beginning of 2017, however, the first gold pour is a particularly special one for New Gold and its stakeholders,” said Hannes Portmann, president and CEO, Rainy River. “This achievement is reflective of a true team effort as it would not have been possible without the commitment and resilience of our workforce as well as the strong support of our local communities and Indigenous partners — thank you.”
As previously announced, the Rainy River mine began processing ore on schedule on September 14. Since that date, the company has successfully processed approximately 290,000 metric tons (mt) of ore. Including four days of intentional downtime as part of the commissioning plan, this translates to an average processing rate of almost 14,000 mt/d, or 67% of the 21,000-mt/d nameplate capacity. At the same time, the mining rate through September has continued to track on plan, which has enabled the mine to deliver the scheduled quantities of ore to the mill.
