Artemis Gold (TSXV: ARTG) may not yet be done with expansion Phase 1A, but they’re already moving on to Phase 2, with the company indicating last night that the board has approved for management to proceed with the second phase of expansion.
The phase two expansion will take the capacity of the processing plant from the current planned 8 million tonnes per annum under Phase 1A, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, to 21 million tonnes per annum by the end of 2028. The Phase 2 expansion is expected to result in Blackwater producing 500,000 to 525,000 ounces of gold annually over the first ten years.
Post-expansion, all in sustaining costs are expected to be between US$800 and US$1,100 per ounce of gold sold, which at current gold prices amounts to AISC margins of over US$3,000 an ounce.
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Capital costs for Phase 2 are estimated at $1.44 billion, which amounts to a capital intensity of $110 per tonne of additional annual throughput. That figure is expected to be funded primarily from operating cash flows along with Artemis’ current balance sheet.
Early works for the expansion are currently scheduled to begin in January, with major works expected to get underway in Q3 of next year, with construction expected to take approximately two years.
Production during the three year expansion period is expected to range between 285,000 and 450,000 gold equivalent ounces at an AISC of $825 to $900 an ounce. Production is expected to be on the low side and costing on the high side of that estimate for 2026 as a result of downtime for the Phase 1A tie-in.
Artemis Gold last traded at $36.78 on the TSX Venture.
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