Page 53 - gmj138-Jan-Mar-20-mag-web_Neat

Troy pulls shutters on Karouni

by Dominic Piper

roy Resources Ltd will be hoping for better fortunes in 2020 However, the accident on October 8 in which an employee
Tafter limping towards the new year. suffered fatal injuries after a 3m high embankment they were
The South American-focused junior miner had a torrid second standing on at the Hicks Extension pit collapsed, saw the
half of 2019, with a fatal accident at its Karouni gold mine in company immediately suspend operations.
Guyana proving the catalyst for a cease work notice from the Two days later, Troy was issued with a cease work order from “a
Guyanese Government (later rescinded) and, eventually, the junior minister within the Ministry of Social Protection”.
suspension of operations. Troy stood down the 200-strong workforce for six weeks without
The problems for the ASX-listed miner date back to July when pay until the cease work order was rescinded. This occurred on
work on the Smarts 3 cut-back stalled due to torrential rains. November 8 but with Smarts 3 still not back to full operation and
Rain had proven a stumbling block throughout Troy’s time in the the company yet to receive the grant of mining permits for the
South American country but as managing director Ken Nilsson Ohio Creek deposit, it chose to retrench 200 employees.
told GMJ sister publication Paydirt in May, the company had “Given that operations have totally ceased, there is a minimum
spent two years making adjustments to ensure it could perform timeline for the restart of operations with mining operations
throughout the wet. required to commence several weeks before the mill is restarted
“The mining operations were tough to begin with; the to provide a sufficient and sustainable volume of feed,” Troy
combination of water and sand meant the wear rates were said in an ASX announcement. “The decision [to retrench 200
higher than anticipated and the volumes of rain during Guyana’s employees] was made as there was not work for them at the
wet seasons made handling and processing of the upper time.”
saprolite ore incredibly difficult,” Nilsson said. How it approaches a restart is still to be confirmed. Troy’s plan
Troy had been campaign mining the saprolite ore to ensure it was to finish the Smarts 3 cutback and mining before the onset
got through the wet season but with the cut-back at Smarts 3 of the 2020 wet season but the company said this would now
increasingly vital to operations – it is the highest grade pit at be impossible.
Karouni – work could not be postponed during this year’s wet “With the current delay in mining activities, it is now very unlikely
season. that Troy will be able to complete the remaining cutback and
However, as well as being the highest-grade orebody, Smarts 3 then the mining before the onset of the next wet season,” the
is also the most challenging with the presence of aquifers and company said. “If that timing is correct, any further time and
other geological features making it susceptible to wall slips. money spent on the cutback now may all be ‘lost’ in the next
Gold production reached only 2,700oz and 2,965oz in July and wet season.”
August, well down on the anticipated 4,500oz as the cut-back Instead, the company is now relying on the Guyanese
slowed further. Troy advised that production forecasts for the Government to give it the greenlight to begin mining at Ohio
six-month period to December 31 would be revised down to Creek and renewal of its licence to import goods free of VAT
24,000oz but said mining rates at Smarts 3 would be increased before it can secure funding to restart operations later in 2020.
over the course of 2019/20.

Mining on the Smarts 3 pit at Karouni has
been postponed due to Troy’s ongoing
operational and permitting issues

Page 53