Vancouver-based PureGold said it is upgrading its gravity circuit at its eponymous gold mine in Red Lake, Ontario.

The upgrades are expected to increase gravity recovery from 10% to 15%, and improve gold recoveries by 1% or 2%, PureGold said.

The upgrades will also reduce operating costs by reducing cyanide use in leaching, carbon in carbon-in-pulp (CIP), and metabisulphite/copper sulphate in the detox circuit.

PureGold is now focusing on ensuring it has sufficient high-grade ore to feed the processing plant. It recorded several shortages of high-grade ore last year, due to development days, lack of scheduling flexibility, and a lack of geologic information.

The company undertook changes to mine planning in the December quarter of 2021, reorganising information and workflow structures and expanding definition drilling. PureGold now expects to have increases in ore throughput and head grade, as it continues to implement these changes.

For the month of December, the plant processed an average of 662 tonnes per day of ore milled at 6.1 g/t of gold with a 96% recovery, producing 3,232 ounces of gold.

PureGold is targeting 600 tpd to 700 tpd in the January quarter, and aims to ramp up gradually as it increases access to high-grade stopes. Average head grades will initially range from 5.0 g/t of gold to 7.0 g/t of gold, and will increase steadily.

PureGold aims to set up its mining camp early in the January quarter, with occupancy planned to begin in March.

The company also appointed Troy Fierro as president and chief executive.