A worker with Rye Patch Gold US Inc. at the Florida Canyon Mine hammers off the black glass crust that forms when partially refined gold and silver is melted and poured into forms during a July 2017 tour of the mine.
Rye Patch Gold Corp., a company that operates the Florida Canyon mine in Pershing County, announced the mine achieved commercial production in December.
The announcement came as part of Rye Patch’s fourth quarter production report.
For the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, Rye Patch reported production of 10,470 ounces of gold along with 5,447 ounces of silver. Gold production continued its upward trend, increasing 31 percent in Q4 compared to Q3.
A plant expansion at the Florida Canyon mine is nearly complete and expected to nearly double the processing capacity with throughput increasing from 18,000 solution tons per day to 30,000 solution tons per day. It should be operational by first quarter of 2018.
In December, Rye Patch reported gold production was 4,069 ounces of gold and 1,996 ounces of silver.
Gold sales benefitted from a combination of selling into the forward sales contract and spot price with a realized gold price of $1,278. Silver was sold at spot price during the quarter and realized an average price of $16.65. A total of 9,532 ounces of gold and 6,756 ounces of silver were sold during the quarter.
