Argonaut Gold announces that its San Agustin operation in Mexico commenced commercial production effective October 1, 2017, two weeks following its first gold pour (see press release dated September 19, 2017). The project has been delivered on schedule and under budget in excess of 20% from the initial capital estimate of $43 million.
Pete Dougherty, President & CEO stated: “The achievement of commercial production at San Agustin is a major milestone for the Company. I commend the team on its ability to deliver the project on schedule, under budget and with no major safety or environmental incidents. We view San Agustin as an important piece of the El Castillo Complex given the shared infrastructure and synergies with our neighbouring El Castillo mine. We believe the El Castillo Complex has the ability to ramp up to 150,000 gold equivalent ounces of production over the next couple of years, which will be the driving force of our approximate 60% production growth rate and lower operating costs by 2019.”