GoldStone Resources has completed its first commercial gold pour at the Homase Mine in the Ashanti Gold Belt in Ghana, weighing, in aggregate, 14.46kg (around 464.90 Troy Ounces).
The first pour was completed during the commissioning of the Smelt House this week, which followed the commissioning of the Elution Plant announced on 1 November 2021, it reported.
The production will now enable GoldStone to meet the interest payment demands for the US$3 million secured gold loan which was announced on 22 June 2020 with Asia Investments Management Services Limited ("AIMS"), subject to the Company receiving its export permit.
The total interest payments in respect of October and November 2021 comprise 11kg of gold, which is due to be paid today, as announced on 20 September 2021 and 1 November 2021.
Following the news of this first gold pour, AIMS has acknowledged that GoldStone is in a position to settle the amounts due and has therefore agreed that it will not be in default under the Gold Loan agreement, subject to GoldStone settling the October and November interest payments in gold within 15 business days (or longer if agreed by AIMS in writing), it noted.
GoldStone said interest will continue to accrue at the default rate of 17% on the amounts due and that it expects to receive the required Export Permit within this 15 business day period.
If conditions permit, the Company intends to host an on-site inauguration ceremony of Ghana's newest gold mine alongside Ghanaian Government authorities early next year.
After pausing operations in September 2021, GoldStone will now restart mining operations.
Commenting on today’s announcement, CEO of GoldStone Resources, Emma Priestley, told investors: "First gold production at Homase is a great credit to GoldStone's operational team, which has been advised and supported by MAED, having worked tirelessly to deliver this product, while dealing with all the challenges that the last 18 months has presented.”
Now that we have managed to successfully complete the transition into a gold producer, we will focus our efforts on ramping up the project to full operations as efficiently as possible, by continuing ramp-up of stacking to the Heap Leach and optimisation of the processing plant."
The Akrokeri-Homase project in south-western Ghana hosts a JORC Code compliant 602,000 oz gold resource at an average grade of 1.77 g/t. The existing resource is confined to a 4km zone of the Homase Trend, including Homase North, Homase Pit and Homase South.
The project hosts two former mines, the Akrokerri Ashanti Mine Ltd, which produced 75,000 oz gold at 24 g/t recovered grade in the early 1900s, and the Homase Pit which AngloGold Ashanti developed in 2002/03 producing 52,000 oz gold at 2.5 g/t recovered.
Looking ahead, it is the Company's intention to build a portfolio of high-quality gold projects in Ghana, with a particular focus on the highly prospective Ashanti Gold Belt.
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