Company behind Scotland's first commercial gold mine hails record production

Scotgold Resources, the company behind the Cononish gold and silver mine near Tyndrum, has cheered record-breaking production figures.

Chief executive Phil Day said initiatives to increase production efficiencies and ramp-up production were paying off.

In a trading update to investors, the firm said fourth-quarter production totalled 1,508 ounces of gold. It saw the highest gold concentrate production recorded in December since first gold was poured - 101 tonnes of concentrate produced equating to some 700 ounces of contained gold.

The group has a production guidance range of between 1,400 and 2,200 ounces of gold for the first quarter of 2022.

Scotgold Resources is behind the Cononish gold and silver mine near Tyndrum, which lies in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.

Day said: “It has taken hard-work, dedication, extensive planning and committed teamwork to transform our mining operations during the past nine months since I joined as CEO.

“Like many mines around the world, we have endured significant Covid disruptions, with many people infected or isolating repeatedly, along with significant challenges with our extensive supply chains.

“I'm honoured to be leading such an exceptional team here in Scotland and the UK who have worked tirelessly during these difficult times, with conviction to deliver.

“Ultimately our vision is to become a mid-tier multi asset gold producer in Scotland. Expanding the resource and achieving full mine optimisation and production at Cononish is the first step in our strategy,” he added.

“Our second step is the continued exploration of our additional licence areas which run across the prospective Grampian area of Scotland.

“We have identified three prospective areas, close to Cononish and it’s our intention to explore these in conjunction with our mine optimisation and development work at Cononish during 2022 and 2023.”

The firm, which is quoted on the Alternative Investment Market, has renegotiated the tranches of the Bridge Barn Loan that were repayable in 2022. An additional loan of £500,000 will provide a “buffer” through the first quarter, it added.

Last month, Scotgold unveiled plans to extend the life of Scotland’s first commercial gold mine in Cononish, while identifying three “high-priority target areas” nearby to help operations gleam.

It came as it flagged a loss of about $5 million (£3.7m) in the year to June 30, compared to $2.5m in the prior 12-month period.

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