Press Release
New Gold Inc. last Wednesday provided an update on the construction of its Rainy River project, located north of Barwick.
Both the project schedule and capital cost estimate remain in line with New Gold’s current plan (announced in late January).
August highlights include:
•the process plant underwent a successful closed loop mill test run with low-grade ore;
•ball mill and SAG mill tested successfully up to nameplate capacity;
•the mining rate during July averaged more than 125,000 tonnes per day, and accelerated to an average of more than 135,000 tonnes per day in August;
•the water management pond is complete;
•all process facilities are mechanically complete;
•ball mill, SAG mill, and the leach carbon-in-pulp process circuits are fully commissioned;
•water, tails, and air systems in the plant are fully operational;
•the refining portion of the process circuit is to be commissioned in mid-September;
•construction of the tailings management area (TMA) start-up cell is complete; and
•approval for design and construction of creek closures using sheet pile was received from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry in August.
“We are very much looking forward to Rainy River’s targeted start-up in the coming weeks,” said company president and CEO Hannes Portmann.
“We made significant progress in August,” he noted.
Consistent with New Gold’s plan, the company should begin processing ore in mid-September.
The estimated development capital cost from the beginning of this year to the targeted November, 2017 commercial production remains $515 million.
