The pour, which provided 500oz of gold and 600oz of silver for the company, was marked just weeks after the mine began processing ore on September 14. Since that day, about 290,000t of ore was processed – or 14,000t/d, about 67% of the mine’s capacity.
Officials said the commissioning of Rainy River is still on schedule. Additionally, its mining rate through September continued to track on plan.
“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,” president and CEO Hannes Portmann said, calling the achievement a “team effort” for the company.
Rainy River, located northwest of Fort Frances, has a total reserved of about 3.9 million ounces of gold. Target production is 325,000oz/y.