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Fosterville continues to shine for Kirkland Lake

Kirkland Lake

Kirkland Lake’s Fosterville gold mine in Victoria continues to deliver impressive results for the global company as the mine exceeded production expectations for the September quarter.

The Fosterville mine produced 134,772 ounces of gold for the September quarter (Q3) as 180,255 tonnes of ore was milled at an average grade of 23.6 grams/tonne (g/t).

Fosterville had produced 401,444 ounces of gold up until the end of September, which already meets Kirkland Gold’s annual production guidance of between 400,000 and 425,000 ounces for the mine.

Kirkland Lake said strong grade performances at the mine’s highest grade Swan zone led to the elevated production.

Two to five metres in width, the Swan zone was first discovered in 2016, and is poised for continued improvements.

This week, Kirkland Lake announced a revised underground drill assay increased the grade of an intercept at a drill hole located down-plunge at Swan zone.

Initially reported as 51.7 g/t of gold over 2.6 metres in late August, the intercept has improved to 207 g/t over the same width.

Fosterville produced 161,489 ounces of gold for the corresponding September quarter of 2020, and 157,993 ounces in the three months to June 2021 (Q2).

Kirkland Lake said the dip in production compared to Q3 2020 was due to lower average grade related to mine sequencing within the Raptor, Benu, Audax and Swan zones.

The reduced production compared to Q2 2021 was due to earlier-than-expected mine sequencing taking place at stopes within the high-grade Swan zone.

Kirkland Lake also indicated surprising grade outperformances from Q2 2021 put Q3 2021 production levels into context.

Production costs at Fosterville were $US25 million ($33.8 million) in Q3 2021, up from $US22.7 million in Q3 2020 and $US23 million in the June quarter.

Kirkland Lake’s overall gold production in the first nine months of 2021 totalled 1,052,144 ounces, with expectations the company will be able to achieve the upper-end of its 1,300,000-1,400,000 ounce 2021 production guidance.

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