The mining company Minax is the new manager of the Tucano mine and will replace U&M Mineração after the company caused a large deficit in the production of ounces of gold at the site, according to data released by Great Panther, which runs the operation.
The company Great Panther, which runs a series of operations in the mining sector in Brazil, announced last Monday, (18/04), the exchange of the company U&M Mineração for the mining company Minax in the administration of the Tucano mine, in Amapá. This occurred as a way to compensate for the drop in the production of ounces of gold that occurred during the first quarter of 2022.
Video: Learn a little more about the mine of the future
A drop in the production of ounces of gold at the Tucano mine led to the replacement of U&M Mineração by the company Minax and the mining company will now have to compensate for the deficit
After a 43% drop in the production of ounces of gold at the Tucano mine, in Amapá, recorded by the Great Panther company in the first quarter of 2022 in the annual comparison with the year 2021, the company announced the change of company U&M Mineração by Minax, which will now have to compensate this production and will be responsible for managing the mine, with the objective of returning to the expected ore production over the next few months.
Data from the Great Panther company on the Tucano mine show that, between January and March of this year, 14.319 ounces of gold were produced, against 24.978 ounces in the equivalent period of 2021, a significant drop for a place with so much potential for the production of ounces of gold. In addition, the volume of the first three months of this year still shows a drop of 31% in relation to the 20.850 ounces of the last three months of last year, further aggravating the situation of U&M Mineração in the administration of the site.
The Tucano mine is one of the largest in all of Brazil and has a large reserve of gold for the production of jaguars, thus maintaining great expectations for the Great Panther company. Thus, the company showed that the Tucano mine was responsible for 98,03% of gold production in the period, with 14.037 ounces and, therefore, could not let the mining company continue with low productivity at the site, seeing in Minax a new chance to offset production and further expand the operation in the coming months.
Despite the low productivity of U&M Mineração, the company Great Panther highlights other reasons for the drop in gold production and puts Minax in charge of putting the mine on track
Although the management of U&M Mineração was not what Great Panther had hoped for the Tucano mine, in Amapá, the company had to say that other factors led to low production at the site. Thus, the mine was also heavily affected by reconciliation of the mine and higher tonnage of crushed ore during these first months of 2022.
Furthermore, in its official note, Great Panther commented on the arrival of the new miner and stated: “To overcome the previously indicated contractor performance issues, the mobilization of our new mining contractor, Minax, began during the quarter. The company continues to work closely with its current contractor, U&M, to ensure a safe and efficient transition with Minax. During the transition, Tucano will continue to make up the deficit in tonnage extracted from U&M with the capacity of the new fleet of Minax mines”.
Finally, the company highlighted the continuous dismantling of the TAP AB, TAP C and Urucum North pits as another factor that led to low production, but stated that it is working with the mining company Minax to reverse the situation.
