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RYE PATCH REPORTS MONTHLY GOLD PRODUCTION
Florida Canyon Mine On-Track for Q3
Vancouver, British Columbia, July 10, 2017 – Rye Patch Gold Corp. (TSX.V: RPM; OTCQX: RPMGF; FWB: 5TN) (the “Company” or “Rye Patch”) reports June and second quarter production results for the Florida Canyon mining operation.
Gold production began from the new South Heap Leach Pad of the Florida Canyon Mine in April 2017. The new pad has completed its first full cycle of leaching of 45 days. Secondary leaching and new placement of ore is continuing on the Phase 1A portion of the pad. Since April, a total of 12,678 ounces of gold and silver dore have been poured. The dore is comprised of 7,075 ounces of gold and 5,603 ounces of silver.
William Howald, Rye Patch President and CEO, said, “We continue to successfully ramp-up mine operations, and the team is pleased with progress through the end of the second quarter. Gold production in the second quarter exceeded the ramp-up plan by more than 1,500 ounces of gold and the mine is on track for third quarter 2017 commercial production.”
Welsh-Hagen Associates of Reno, Nevada completed an audit of the leach pad, and compared its operational performance to the expected leach recovery model. Based on the audit, the new leach pad is performing in line with the leach curve model and recovered gold ounces are within 1 percent of the projected gold production. Production of 5,567 ounces of gold was projected for the first three months of leaching compared to 7,075 ounces of gold actually achieved between April 12 and June 30. The better-than-expected gold production results from more tons being placed on the leach pad between January and March.
June gold production was above plan but below expectations as a result of the acid wash circuit being off-line most of June to replace a cracked wash vessel. The new vessel has arrived and is being installed. Work on the regeneration kiln was also completed in June. The result of these two items being off-line was a decrease in efficiency of the carbon plant to attract the gold thus decreasing gold production. Both circuits will be back on-line in July.
Mining achieved 85 percent of its budgeted ore tons in the second quarter with the bulk of the ore coming from the Jasperoid pit. In June, a total of 693,434 tons (633,395 tonnes) of ore was mined compared to 575,477 tons (523,160 tonnes) budgeted. The increase in ore tonnage resulted from the Jasperoid pit being ore bound on the 5440 and 5420 benches. This has allowed for the mining fleet to begin accessing the second pit. Starting in July, the mine will have two sources of ore – Central and Jasperoid pits.
Fleet availability has improved dramatically over the second quarter. At the end of June, all 11 785 CAT haul trucks were operational. Two haul trucks were down for most of June as a result of major required component replacement. All other haulage and loading equipment was down for routine preventive maintenance. Loaders had a 94 percent availability and 785 haul trucks improved to 79 percent availability. An increase in 785-haul truck availability is expected to continue going forward.
The crusher continues to outperform its design specifications. Under the current plan, the crusher is required to crush 1,100 tons (1,000 tonnes) per hour. It is currently exceeding this limit and is permitted to crush up to 1,600 (1455 tonnes) tons per hour. Additional 785 haul trucks are being sourced and an increase to the crusher air quality permit is being prepared. The resulting increase in crusher capacity and through put could have a substantial positive impact on future annual gold production.
With the end of the second quarter, Rye Patch will release production results, activities and cost information for the Florida Canyon mine in the future on a quarterly basis in-line with the Company’s financial reporting.
