Troy Resources Guyana Inc. not shutting down

May 20, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Following reports in the local media that Troy Resources Guyana Inc. will be forced to temporarily close before the end of the year as a result of depleting gold reserve in its primary pits, the company in a statement yesterday assured that it is not planning to shut down.

Please see full statement below from Troy Resources Guyana Inc. Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Ken Nilsson, on the company’s operations.

The recent announcements by Troy Resources on our website were meant to update the market and were not meant to be advice that a shutdown of Troy’s operations is imminent. In light of the tightening ore supply, it is necessary to keep the share market updated more closely. The actual announcement was also to highlight the fact that Troy has shifted some of its focus to a new area.

The announcement is a statement of the current status of the Company’s operations and probable actions it may take. Ultimately, the timing of reduction of mining is dependent on results from the test-mining programme at the Goldstar area and any other additional sources. That being the case, there is currently no fixed date set as to when this could take place. This of course is a normal scenario in the life of any mine where new discoveries or conversion of reserves may not keep up with production demands.

Initially it was hoped that we could have a seamless transfer from open pit to underground mining with minimal impact on the overall operation except for the open pit mining operations. However, with the diminishing size of the open pits the amount of material needing to be moved for a given volume of ore diminishes, therefore requiring less machinery. The delay of the underground operation is currently at about two months. The initial work, which was planned to start around the 1st of July, now seems more likely to take place in October. We anticipate that all preparatory technical work on the underground operations will be completed by mid to late June.

Naturally, the need for goods and services will gradually diminish during this time until operations resume and get back to full capacity. In the interim, exploration is currently ongoing with drilling to be resumed shortly, in addition to other activities necessary to meet our commitments to suppliers and others by ensuring that we have funding.

Should it be the case, the process of going into Care and Maintenance is not an instant event. The downsizing is likely to occur over several months. The exercise of going into Care and Maintenance is not indicative of a shut down: it is merely a mechanism by which a company can restructure and reprioritise its operations. This scenario recently played out at the Aurora Project.

When persons have to be stood down it will be a gradual process depending on the above factors, but a fixed number is difficult to predict at this time, as it is dependent on the success of the activities explained above. But there will certainly be a group remaining for rehabilitation work and other tasks. In the event of restarting mining at full capacity, existing staff and those released recently will have priority in the re-staffing. In the case of any layoffs, they would be done in accordance with the National laws and practices.

As regards the recent acquisition of tenements in the Potaro area, this is not an uncommon event for any mining company. Since entering Guyana Troy has continuously acquired what it considered to be areas with the potential for mineralisation. There are of course no absolute guarantees of finding a commercially viable resource. In the Potaro acquisition, like in all other areas, tenements are acquired from several different tenement holders and were done in keeping with all regulatory requirements.

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