Red 5’s September quarterly report to the ASX said both the open-pit and underground mining ramp-up schedule for the quarter was affected by COVID-absenteeism, delaying progress towards higher-grade open-pit benches and underground production stopes.
The company said additional crews had been in place since August to enable the mining schedule to catch up by December.
It said after promising performance in July, unplanned downtime was experienced in the processing plant, with mill shutdowns needed in September to reconfigure the SAG mill to process an increasingly hard primary rock charge as ore feed.
But Red 5 said during October significantly improved stability had been seen in the plant, which was processing a consistent harder ore feed blend.
It said overall utilisation for October had averaged 90 per cent, with average mill throughput of 550 tonnes/hour for the month to date.
“Commercial production at King of the Hills is on track to be declared in the December 2022 quarter,” the company said.
Red 5 also said operations at the Darlot processing plant had been completed during the quarter, with ore now being trucked to the King of the Hills processing hub as part of the Darlot transition strategy.
The company said September quarter production was 26,710 ounces, up from 18,586oz in June, with reporting of quarterly all-in sustaining costs to start once commercial production was achieved.
Red 5 poured first gold at King of the Hills on June 5 after completing the $226 million processing plant on time and budget.
