Serabi Gold makes good progress in northern Brazil

The AIM-traded firm said it saw the highest level of mined tonnage for the year during the quarter, with a total of 42,725 tonnes at 6.23 grams per tonne of gold.

A total of 41,405 tonnes of run of mine ore was processed through the plant from the combined Palito and Sao Chico orebodies, with an average grade of 6.11 g/t of gold - a 9% improvement in throughput rates compared with the second quarter.

The company said an additional 6,825 tonnes of historical tailings were processed through the leaching circuit at a grade of 3.5 g/t of gold.

It also reported the highest quarterly total of horizontal mine development in 2018, with 2,814 metres completed.

On the exploration and development front, the firm completed a 4,343 line kilometre airborne HeliTEM electromagnetic (EM) and magnetic survey.

It also reported the completion of 80 line kilometres of a terrestrial induced polarisation (IP) geophysical survey.

A total of 4,237 metres of surface exploration drilling was completed over the Sao Chico deposit, which successfully intersected the strike extension of the Sao Chico orebody up to 300 metres west of the current mine limit.

The firm also reported 1,520 metres of surface drilling at the Palito deposit, targeting the north extension of the main G3 vein, with the most significant intersection recording 19 g/t of gold over a width of 0.55 metres.

Serabi began surface drilling at Coringa during the period, in preparation for a new mineral resource update to be issued in the first quarter of 2019.

It also confirmed the start-up of portal development and underground access at Coringa.

“This third quarter has been very encouraging,” said chief executive officer Mike Hodgson.

“We have had some excellent exploration success at Sao Chico and Palito, completed the excavation of the mine portal at the recently acquired Coringa project, and enjoyed a solid third quarter of production from our Palito Complex mining operations, with 8,101 ounces of gold produced and total gold production for the year to date totalling 26,852 ounces.”

Hodgson said the exploration results to date had been “excellent”, and that - alongside steady gold production - meant that the company had another positive quarter.

“With the rigs turning at Sao Chico and Coringa, and the imminent results from our airborne geophysics survey I anticipate that Serabi will continue to make significant progress and I look forward to providing further updates in the coming months.”