Galane Gold announced in its highlights of the second quarter of 2021, that the company was able to mine 5851 ounces of gold at Mupane in Botswana, recording a slight improvement from the first quarter.
Part of the Q2 highlights revealed that the mining company produced 5851 ounces of gold at Mupane and sold its gold at an average sales price of $1787 per ounce. This was slightly better than Q1’s performance where the miner produced 5600 ounces of gold at Mupane and sold its gold at an average sales price of $1771 per ounce.
The increase in production was because, during Q1, there were problems associated with the heavy rainfall the country experienced. Galane Gold chief executive officer (CEO) Nick Brodie when commenting on Q1 results said that “at Mupane, production was not at the level we had hoped for in the first quarter. This was due to unseasonably high rainfalls which flooded the lower levels of the Tau underground and constrained production. In addition, we experienced inconsistent power supply, again caused by the high rainfall, which resulted in the failure of the main incoming transformer.” Brodie added that these challenges will affect the start of the next quarter.
Galane Gold, a gold producer and explorer with mining operations and exploration tenements in Botswana through Mupane Gold Mining (Pty), makes it Botswana’s only major gold producer.
Brodie, noting the financial results of Q2 this time said, “Mupane production was not at the level we had hoped for in the second quarter due to problems experienced at its main jaw crusher, employee absence due to Covid-19, issues with its main incoming transformer and production complications at Tau due to poor performance by its mining contractor.”
Brodie had said that despite the problems of the Mupane operations, the company has continued to make considerable progress in the reduction of debt on its balance sheet. “We are also currently seeing on-plan performance from our mining contractor, and we will continue to work with them to maintain that for the remainder of this year,” Brodie said. The company is also working closely with the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) to improve the power supply to the mine, thus forecasting an improvement in production in the next two quarters.
Mupane Gold Mining (Pty) is a conventional open-pit and underground mining operation. Operations are situated approximately 30km southeast of Francistown, in north-eastern Botswana. Commercial production commenced in January 2005 with 738 853 ounces of gold produced as of December 31, 2018.
Galane Gold operates through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Galane Gold Mines Ltd which in turn operates two mines of which one is a producing mine which also has the rights to certain mineral exploration tenements in Botswana, which is collectively “Mupane Property”.
Mupane gold mine is in Northeastern Botswana 30km Southeast of Francistown. It is Galane Golds first major gold producer and since 2005 has produced over 700 000 ounces of Gold. The mine has an underground and open-pit mining plan currently focusing on its newly developed underground decline in the Tau orebody.
