Metals Exploration resumes gold at Runruno, says no typhoon impact

(Alliance News) - Metals Exploration PLC on Wednesday said gold processing at its Runruno mine had resumed after a cyanide contamination incident, and was unaffected by a super-typhoon which hit the Phillippines on Monday.

The London-based mining company owns gold and polybdenum prospect Runruno, north of Manila, as well as La India in Nicaragua, which it acquired from former AIM listing Condor Gold PLC back in January.

Super-typhoon Ragasa made landfall north of Runruno on Monday, but "has now moved away from the Philippine landmass across the South China Sea towards Hong Kong, Taiwan and China," according to Metals Exploration.

Operations at Runruno restarted earlier this month, following a six-week deferral due to cyanide contaminating the Biox circuit.

The Biox process is a patented extraction technique developed by South African mining firm Gencor Ltd, which exposes gold ore before cyanidation through bacterial oxidisation.

When Metals Exploration announced the pause at the end of August, it said this would "allow new process monitoring and production procedures to be implemented" but left its production guidance unchanged.

The company indicated the contamination resulted from "illegal mining activity" affecting water upstream of Runruno and ore feed from small-scale tunnels.

Metals Exploration added that the use of cyanide was "a recent development" after the removal of ball mills from the area. Small-scale miners in the Philippines are also prohibited from using explosives as an extraction method.

"Although the extent of illegal mining is much larger than previously thought, the company believes the residual cyanide issue is isolated," the mining firm said in August, and "will not result in any material loss of overall gold production."

Metals Exploration shares rose 2.9% to 12.86 pence on Wednesday morning in London.

By Holly Munks, Alliance News reporter

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