New Gold begins 2021 as a much stronger company with a growing production profile from the Rainy River Mine at lower costs, as deferred capital projects have been completed and the mine transitions to generating free cash flow.
I am very proud of the progress the team has made at New Afton, and coupled with the execution at Rainy River, we remain on-track to achieve our annual guidance estimates,” stated Renaud Adams, President & CEO.
based on a ratio of $1,800 per gold ounce, $25.00 per silver ounce and $3.50 per copper pound used for 2021 guidance estimates.
In 2021, the Rainy River Mine is expected to achieve production increases and decreases in both operating and capital costs as it transitions to generating sustainable free cash flow.
ounces for New Afton in Q1 2021 includes 13.8 million pounds of copper and 53,494 ounces of silver converted to a gold eq.
ounces for New Afton in Q1 2020 includes 13.8 million pounds of copper and 53,494 ounces of silver converted to a gold eq.
Mining in the other areas of Lift 1, including the West Cave, East Cave and Pillar, ramped-up during the quarter and returned to pre-incident mining rates at the end of the quarter.
The targets at New Afton are within a large area, called the “Cherry Creek Trend” characterized by distinct clusters of coincidental geophysical and soil geochemical anomalism, alteration variations, major structures and both epithermal and porphyry style mineralization signatures within the same rocks hosting New Afton deposit.
The 2021 drilling program consists of the continuation of the reconnaissance drilling program that was launched at the New Afton Mine in October 2020, which was primarily focused on the prospective Cherry Creek trend, located within three kilometers of the New Afton mill .
The key objective of the Phase 1 reconnaissance drilling program was to identify the potential sources and mineralization causing the geochemical and geophysical anomalism that was previously identified in 2019, particularly to assess the potential for epithermal and gold-copper porphyry style deposits.
Results to date at Silica Hill, where several drill holes have returned shallow intercepts of narrow gold and silver mineralization within the preliminary geology model and alteration domains interpreted, show characteristics of mineralization and alteration patterns that halo gold-copper mineralized porphyry systems similar to New Afton deposit.
An early-stage exploration program was launched at the Rainy River mine in December 2020 that tested priority targets on the north-east portion of the broader regional mineral tenure to identify areas of potential gold mineralization and to define targets for follow-up drill testing.
The Company completed a reconnaissance drilling program designed to test targets within areas of coincident geochemical soil anomalies, magnetic geophysical anomalies, and evidence of quartz veins and/or shear zones within the North East Trend area located approximately 15 kilometres north from the Rainy River Mine site.
The updated interpretation suggests that the shear zone is dipping at 75 degrees to the west and is not subvertical as previously thought and the inclined holes planned to the west potentially missed to undercut the targeted structure.
New Gold is a Canadian-focused intermediate gold mining Company with a portfolio of two core producing assets in Canada, the Rainy River gold mine and the New Afton copper-gold Mines.
Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “plans”, “expects”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “targeted”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “projects”, “potential”, “believes” or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “should”, “might” or “will be taken”, “occur” or “be achieved” or the negative connotation of such terms. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others, statements with respect to: the Company’s plans to grow production and generate free cash flow; the Company’s production and sales; the Company’s plans to optimize operations and costs at the Rainy River Mine and the New Afton Mine; the timing of production from certain areas of the Rainy River Mine and the New Afton Mine; the timing for completion for development projects at the Rainy River Mine and the New Afton Mine; the timing and scope of exploration drilling programs at the Rainy River Mine and the New Afton Mine; and the timing of receipt of permits at the New Afton Mine.
All forward-looking statements in this news release are based on the opinions and estimates of management that, while considered reasonable as at the date of this press release in light of management’s experience and perception of current conditions and expected developments, are inherently subject to important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which are beyond New Gold’s ability to control or predict.
Such factors include, without limitation: significant capital requirements and the availability and management of capital resources; additional funding requirements; price volatility in the spot and forward markets for metals and other commodities; fluctuations in the international currency markets and in the rates of exchange of the currencies of Canada, the United States and, to a lesser extent, Mexico; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, between actual and estimated mineral reserves and mineral resources and between actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries; risks related to early production at the Rainy River Mine, including failure of equipment, machinery, the process circuit or other processes to perform as designed or intended; fluctuation in treatment and refining charges; changes in national and local government legislation in Canada, the United States and, to a lesser extent, Mexico or any other country in which New Gold currently or may in the future carry on business; taxation; controls, regulations and political or economic developments in the countries in which New Gold does or may carry on business; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining and maintaining the validity and enforceability of the necessary licenses and permits and complying with the permitting requirements of each jurisdiction in which New Gold operates, the lack of certainty with respect to foreign legal systems, which may not be immune from the influence of political pressure, corruption or other factors that are inconsistent with the rule of law; the uncertainties inherent to current and future legal challenges New Gold is or may become a party to; diminishing quantities or grades of mineral reserves and mineral resources; competition; loss of key employees; rising costs of labour, supplies, fuel and equipment; actual results of current exploration or reclamation activities; uncertainties inherent to mining economic studies; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; accidents; labour disputes; defective title to mineral claims or property or contests over claims to mineral properties; unexpected delays and costs inherent to consulting and accommodating rights of Indigenous groups; risks, uncertainties and unanticipated delays associated with obtaining and maintaining necessary licenses, permits and authorizations and complying with permitting requirements; disruptions to the Company’s workforce at either the Rainy River Mine or the New Afton Mine, or both, due to cases of COVID-19 or any required self-isolation as well as “Risk Factors” included in New Gold’s Annual Information Form, MD&A and other disclosure documents filed on and available at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov.
Mr. Della Libera is a Professional Geoscientist program at its New Afton mine operation using industry best practices and is consistent with the QA/QC protocols in use at all of the company’s exploration and development projects.