The plant ramp-up at Sino Gold"s Jinfeng mine in China has proceeded well but continuous operation has been impacted by persistent rain.

Before the rain, 5800 ounces of gold was recovered at Jinfeng during June with 2542 ounces sold at an average price of US$646 per ounce.

Commissioning and production ramp-up of the plant was proceeding in line with expectations before the rain. Crushing, grinding and BIOX circuit capacity, in particular, appear to be capable of performing well in excess of levels required to meet the design gold production rate of 180,000 ounces per annum.

Flotation recovery of up to 77% has been achieved, however, average recoveries have been affected due to the flotation circuit operating intermittently as concentrate feed rates have been restricted during the ramp-up to BIOX design capacity.

Mechanical difficulties with flotation thickener early in June caused about 100 hours downtime while the discharge of tailings into the CIL dam has been affected by persistent rainfall totalling about 280mm for June.

Underground development beyond portal construction is on hold pending approvals being granted by relevant authorities. A start on the decline is aimed at bringing forward increased ore production to levels required to potentially expand the processing plant. Re-scheduling of underground development is in progress to enable ore in upper levels of the underground mine to be accessed more quickly.