Galane Gold on drive to increase production

Galane Gold (GG), the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) listed gold producer and explorer with mining operations and exploration tenements in Botswana is on an aggressive drive to increase production. The company currently runs Mupane, Tau and Golden Eagle Gold Mines in North Eastern Botswana.

 
During fiscal year 2014, the company produced 30,791 ounces of gold from 594,649 tonnes of ore mined at an average grade (Amount of valuable metal in each tonne of ore) of 1.76 grams per tonne and turned over net earnings amounting to $1,876,608 (Over P17.7 million). The company, which produced 5,030 ounces of gold from 97,722 tonnes of ore mined at an average grade of 1.55 grams per tonne, will start trial mining at the Tekwane Mine which license they recently acquired. Tekwane has a measured and indicated mineral resource (Quantity and quality can be estimated with high level of confidence) of 12,735 ounces of gold.

 
GG also recently announced a possible acquisition of Galaxy Gold which mining assets are located in the outskirts of Barberton in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. Mining commenced in the 1880s and to date, over a million ounces of gold have been extracted from Galaxy Gold’s mine assets.

 
According to a statement from GG, an “Independent Competent Persons” Report on the Galaxy Gold Mineral Assets handed to it by Galaxy Gold points to a high mineral resource estimate. Total measured and indicated mineral resource is estimated at 6,536,100 tonnes while deferred mineral resource (Quantity and quality can be estimated with low level of confidence) is estimated at 8,070,000 tonnes. Average grade is better than that of the Botswana operations at 3.02 grams per tonne for measured and indicated mineral resource while the grade for deferred mineral resource stands at 3.40 grams per tonne.

 
The new entrants to GG portfolio of mine assets, Galaxy Gold and Tekwane, will add an estimated 1.5 million and 12.735 ounces of gold to GG production respectively. Company CEO, Nick Brodie, has pointed to other strategies that are being employed to increase productive capacity, “…the Company [is undertaking] the transition from predominately open pit to underground mining at the Company’s Tau operation. It is currently expected that the Company will be in full production from Tau underground towards the end of Q3 2015 at which point we expect there to be a marked improvement in the performance of the Company.” He also commented on the Galaxy Gold acquisition, “It is also an exciting time for the Company as we start the process of due diligence at Galaxy, which was announced subsequent to the end of the quarter. The Company sees Galaxy as a potential near term production asset, with minimal capital costs and an ability to increase production in easily manageable steps. This is also expected to be at a cost which is a fraction of replacement cost.”