The multinational precious metals producer SSR Mining Inc (TSE: SSRM) (NASDAQ: SSRM) celebrated a significant production achievement at its flagship gold mine on Dec. 30. After over 35 years of operation, Nevada’s Marigold project has now produced 5 million ounces.
SSR has only been in possession of the mine since 2014 after acquiring it from Barrick Gold Corp (TSE: ABX) (NYSE: GOLD) and the former operator Goldcorp. Marigold has churned out over 2 million ounces since that time.
Despite being in production for decades, the open pit heap leach asset’s resources will not be depleted until the mid 2030s.
“Marigold still hosted nearly 3 million ounces of mineral reserves as of Dec 31., 2023,” Executive Chairman, Rod Antal, said in a statement, “supporting a mine life of at least 9 years.”
SSR says Marigold was the first mine to be certified under the International Cyanide Management Code — a certification program for companies deemed to be using the chemical responsibly.
The operation resides in the state’s Battle Mountain Eureka gold trend alongside other prolific gold assets. Neighbouring projects include the Pan Mine run by Calibre Mining Corp (TSE: CXB) (OTCMKTS: CXBMF); the Bald Mountain Mine held by Kinross Gold Corp (TSE: K) (NYSE: KGC); and McEwen Mining Inc‘s (TSE: MUX) (NYSE: MUX) Gold Bar site.
About 80 million tonnes of material get moved by massive haul trucks every year at Marigold.
Five million ounces merits a photograph. Photo credit: SSR Mining
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SSR to acquire Colorado mine from Newmont
The gold producer entered into an agreement to acquire the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine in early December for an initial US$100 million followed by milestone payments.
Newmont Corporation (TSE: NGT) (NYSE: NEM) has pulled over 2.5 million ounces from the project since it started extracting its resources in 2015. It will add about 170,000 ounces to SSR’s American production yield per annum.
“The acquisition of the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine represents a rare opportunity to add a high-quality producing asset in a Tier-1 jurisdiction at an accretive valuation,” Antal said on Dec. 6.
On a less positive note, SSR Mining is still dealing with the aftermath of a catastrophic landslide at its Çöpler operation in Turkey that killed nine people. This process is far from concluded.
In an update provided on Nov. 6, the company said that remediation and containment work would take two to three years and cost SSR about US$275 million. Over 86 per cent of the displaced heap leach material has now been moved to temporary storage sites.
“At this time, we are not able to estimate or predict when and under what conditions we will resume operations at Çöpler,” SSR said in the statement.
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