Gold miner CNMC completes carbon-in-leach plant, expects output boost

MALAYSIAN gold miner CNMC Goldmine Holdings has completed the construction of its carbon-in-leach plant which will allow the firm to process higher-grade gold ore.

In a Singapore Exchange filing on Monday, the group said that trial production at the plant - its third gold-ore processing facility at the Sokor project in Kelantan - has started, and commercial production will begin once operational processes have been fine-tuned.

The plant is expected to be able to process about 500 tonnes of ore daily. The firm has stockpiled about 18,000 tonnes of higher-grade ore for the plant, in preparation of a ramp-up in operations and in anticipation of the year-end monsoon season.

The new facility will enable CNMC to process higher-grade gold ore with better yield ratios, boost gold production and optimise overall gold output, said the firm.

It added that its current heap leaching facility is best suited for processing lower-ore grades, hence limiting overall gold output.