Crocodile Gold Corp. announces fourth quarter production of 22,351 ounces and 2010 annual production of 81,793 ounces.
Highlights include:
-- 518,475 tonnes at a grade of 1.49 grams/tonne gold were milled in the fourth quarter of 2010 to produce 22,351 ounces at a recovery of 91.4%. Of note, ore milled in October was 196,000 tonnes before the wet season began to impact mill throughput.
-- Gold poured during the fourth quarter of 2010 of 23,300 ounces despite the Northern Territory of Australia experiencing one of its wettest quarters on record.
-- During 2010, a total of 1,856,180 tonnes at a grade of 1.55 grams/tonne gold were milled to produce 81,793 ounces for an overall recovery of 88.4%. Higher than normal monsoonal rains in December negatively affected both mine production and mill throughput. There were 8 days of lost production in December at Howley as higher grade ore at the bottom of the pit was inaccessible reducing production by approximately 2,000 ounces in the last half of December. In addition, 40,000 fewer tonnes were milled in December due to rainfall related production issues.
-- The Company focused on selectively mining higher grade areas to offset production difficulties caused by abnormally high rainfall. The current long term weather outlook for the monsoonal season which typically ends in March indicates that there will be further above average rainfall in the first quarter of 2011.
-- Production during the fourth quarter of 2010 came from the Brocks Creek underground mine and the Howley, North Point and Princess Louise open pits..."
