Kirkland Lake gold production to go up!
Kirkland Lake Gold announced that the Company’s Fosterville Mine is on track for record quarterly production in the Q4 2018, with full-year 2018 production now expected to exceed 330,000 ounces versus current guidance of 300,000 – 310,000 ounces.
Fosterville’s strong Q4 2018 performance largely reflects higher than expected grades and the advancement of two additional stopes from the high-grade Swan Zone into the mine’s Q4 2018 production plan. Based on the improved outlook for Fosterville, the Company now anticipates that full-year 2018 consolidated production will exceed the current target range of 655,000 – 670,000 ounces.
Tony Makuch, President and CEO of Kirkland Lake Gold, commented: “Fosterville is clearly firing on all cylinders heading towards the end of the year, with Q4 2018 production on track to easily beat the current production record of 90,618 ounces, achieved last quarter.
We continue to see significant grade outperformance from stopes in both the Swan and Eagle zones. We have also benefited from higher than expected grades when processing development tonnes taken from around the Swan Zone and have been able to add two Swan stopes to the Q4 2018 production plan based on development metres completed.
The higher than expected grades from both development and run-of-mine production, along with the exceptionally high grades reported from recent drilling results provide confirmation that the presence of high-grade quartz veins with visible gold is more prolific than estimated in the current block model. Higher than planned grades are leading to increased levels of production in 2018 and are expected to favourably impact production levels in both 2019 and 2020.
Strong results at Fosterville during Q4 2018, as well as a solid performance from our Canadian operations to date in the quarter, are positioning us to end 2018 with total production for the full year exceeding our current target range of 655,000 – 670,000 ounces.”
