Following the restart of operations at its Karouni Gold Mine, Troy Resources Limited is expected to resume full production by the end of next month, according to Chief Executive Officer Ken Nilsson.
Nilsson told Stabroek News that the company restarted mining activities at the beginning of January and began limited production on Sunday.
“Troy has been mining since [the] beginning of January and limited processing started yesterday, [Sunday] and we expect to be in full production by end of February,” Nilsson said.
The Australian-owned mining company in a subsequent statement noted that the restart of operations has been ongoing in phases.
“The restart began progressively, initially with the employment of personnel involved in mining activities and later and ongoing with personnel involved in processing activities,” the statement said. It added that processing of ore restarted a few days ago and work is moving apace to have the processing plant operate on a full time (24-hour) basis.
After securing a US$10.3 million in funding in December, Nilsson had announced that the company was ready to restart operations.
“Since late November the Company has been working on sourcing the working capital required to make a formal decision to restart the operations… With that funding now secured, the Board has formally approved the recommencement of operations at the Karouni Gold Mine,” the company announced in December.
The company, which had sacked some 300 workers after a forced closure, explained that the “lag” in the hiring was due to all available ore having been processed before the mill was placed on care and maintenance and so a rebuild of ore was required before milling could recommence. “Maintenance on the processing plant will continue to take place while awaiting a full restart of ore processing,” it said, while adding that it was likely that first gold sales revenue from the restart of operations will not be received for some six to eight weeks.
Operations at the company came to a halt after it was issued with a cease order on October 10th by Minister in the Ministry of Social Protection with responsibility for Labour Keith Scott following the death of geologist Ryan Taylor.
Taylor died on October 8th while working on the construction of a “bench” in a mining pit. A slippage occurred, which led to him falling and being covered by the rubble. On October 15th, Minister of Social Protection Amna Ally rescinded the order but Troy suspended operations after what it said was the knee-jerk reaction by Scott.
As the company paid out severance packages to sacked workers in November, Nilsson had told Stabroek News that he had hoped to secure the needed financial backing to restart operations.
At the time, Nilsson was hopeful that the gradual reemployment of workers would begin in December, with the company reemploying a “full complement sometime in January.”
Nilsson had lamented that while the company had money in various forms, it lacked liquidity, which was exacerbated by its recent closure. He explained that before its closure, the company was making in one month just over the US$5 million needed to stay afloat, the excess of which was being used to service debt.
