From its beginnings in 2012 until 2017, the El Gallo Mine produced 240,000 gold ounces and 125,000 silver ounces. During Q2 2018 mining and crushing activities at El Gallo ceased and contractor equipment has been demobilized from the mine site. Onsite operations continued through residual heap leaching for the remainder of 2018.
In 2018 El Gallo produced 38,984 ounces of gold and 9,145 ounces of silver, representing a total of 39,106 gold equivalent ounces based on a 75:1 gold-to-silver ratio. Mine demobilization in May brought diminishing operating expenses, with gold production declining more gradually, resulting in an overall reduction in costs per ounce produced for the balance of the year. El Gallo costs per gold equivalent ounce realized in 2018 were $733 total cash costs and $771 all-in sustaining costs.
El Gallo has 2019 production guidance of 13,000 gold equivalent ounces to be derived from residual heap leaching activities, at cash costs and all-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce of $875 and $915, respectively. During Q1 2019 the process plant underwent a small expansion to improve efficiency and enable faster gold recovery, achieving a quarterly production of 5,432 gold equivalent ounces, with total cash cost and all-in sustaining cost of $967 and $989 per gold equivalent ounce, respectively.
Closure and reclamation at El Gallo are ongoing and residual heap leaching activities will continue to produce gold for several years. At the same time, our team in Mexico is working on an exciting new project for the El Gallo Complex. To find out information about project Fenix please visit its page here.