First pour: Gold producers welcome Firefinch to their ranks

Firefinch Limited (ASX:FFX), formerly Mali Lithium, has joined the ranks of producers after carrying out its first gold pour at the Morila gold mine in Mali since acquiring the asset.

To top it off, the company expects Morila to produce gold above forecast in its first month of operations with output in November expected to be between 4,000oz and 4,100oz of gold at an approximate all-in-cost of $US1,000 to $US1,100 per oz.

This is thanks to the company achieving above forecast tonnage while tailings retreatment, mining and processing is operating as planned.

Firefinch recently closed the acquisition of an 80 per cent interest in the Morila mine, which had produced about 7.4 million oz of gold, from Barrick Gold and AngloGold Ashanti.

It previously flagged that the tailings operation at Morila is expected to produce just over 26,000oz of gold between now and May next year.

The company plans to grow the existing Morila resource of 1.49Moz, define resources at satellite pits and the Koting discovery along with testing multiple high value targets.

Firefinch (ASX:FFX) share price chart

Targeting gold production

Meanwhile, Black Cat Syndicate (ASX:BC8) has outlined plans to join the ranks of gold producers by building a 500,000 tonne per annum gold processing facility with full production targeted for the March 2022 quarter.

The planned facility will be readily expandable and capable of treating multiple feed sources.

Initial scoping studies over just 40 per cent of its current 884,000oz resource across its 756sqkm landholding east of Kalgoorlie have highlighted a strong case for development.

The 357,000oz considered would be sufficient for four years of mine life and generate operating cash flow of $117.5m at an all-in-sustaining cost of $1,545 per oz of gold.

Black Cat is currently carrying out a +60,000m drilling program to further upgrade resources.

Black Cat Syndicate (ASX:BC8) share price chart

Resource upgrade

Canterbury Resources (ASX:CBY) may be some way from becoming one of the gold producers but it has upgraded gold and copper resources at its Wamum project in Papua New Guinea by 11 per cent and 22 per cent respectively after validating additional historical data.

Wamum, which is just 20km from the giant Wafi-Golpu development, now boasts total contained resources of 3.16Moz of gold and 762,000t of copper.

The company is currently waiting on the grant of the tenement over the project following a successful mining wardens hearing where local representatives expressed strong support with no objections.

Planning is also underway for a scoping study to assess the potential development of a standalone mining operation.