OceanaGold has achieved a major milestone at its Didipio mine in the Philippines, restarting gold and copper production after two years of inactivity at the mine.
The Philippines Government renewed Didipio’s financial or technical assistance agreement (FTAA) for an additional 25 years in July, with the start date retrospectively beginning on June 19, 2019.
This followed a lengthy process of halted mine operations from July 2019 due to tensions between the Brisbane-based miner and Philippines Government over the mine licence.
Since getting the green light, OceanaGold has been rapidly working on resuming proceedings at the mine, with recruitment and training of the workforce taking place, along with the delivery of equipment and supplies.
OceanaGold chief operating officer and acting chief executive officer Scott Sullivan said a Didipio restart was a significant achievement for his team.
“This is a major milestone for OceanaGold, the Didipio mine and host communities. Following the confirmation of the Didipio mine financial or technical assistance agreement renewal, Didipio is producing gold and copper again, which will be an important source of free cash flow generation for the company and a significant contributor of socio-economic benefits for the region and country,” he said.
With the restart occurring earlier than expected, OceanaGold is putting measures in place to ensure Didipio returns to its previous production heights.
“The start of milling is two weeks ahead of schedule, following the completion of plant upgrades and maintenance activities and the start of mining activities was one month ahead of schedule,” Sullivan said.
“As the underground mining operations continue to ramp up over the course of the next eight to nine months, the primary ore feed will be sourced from low-grade stockpiles, of which the company has approximately 23 million tonnes of ore on surface.”
“With underground ore progressively being delivered to the run-of-mine (ROM) pad, the operation will increase the proportion of higher-grade ore feed to supplement the mill.”
OceanaGold expects its Didipio process plant to ramp up to a throughput rate of 3.5 million tonnes per annum over the course of the next few weeks, paving the way for the production of between 7000 and 12,000 ounces of gold and 1000 tonnes of copper for the remainder of the year.