Thailand
Cambodia sends first gold ore shipment abroad for purification
Renaissance Minerals Cambodia Limited has begun shipping gold ore from its industrial gold mine exploration in the Okvau region of Keo Seima district in Mondulkiri province abroad for additional refining. The shipment comes two months the first extraction was officially made.
The firm dispatched 59 kg of semi-refined gold to Australia with a second shipment weighing in at 100 kg due to be exported soon, said Yos Monirath, director-general of mines at the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
The gold needs to be further refined to reach the 99.99 percent purity required for sale on into the international market, said the director-general yesterday.
The international price of pure gold is currently $58,000/kg, Monirath noted, adding that the price fluctuates based on market demand.
“For the second shipment of 100 kgs of gold ore, currently the company is working to fill the customs documents on export, which is expected to be made soon,” he added.
The official operation of the Kingdom’s first commercial gold mining operation started in June this year. Since commencing operations, 210 kgs have been extracted and semi-refined.
It is anticipated that the firm will produce 3 tonnes of gold ore per year over the first eight years of the mine’s operations.
“We will receive 3 percent as royalty revenue from the net sales of gold from the company,” Monirath said.
Cambodia expects to receive $40 million in royalties and taxes from the precious metal towards the national budget.
The project’s status as the nation’s first commercial mine comes after 14 years of exploration and research by Renaissance. Upon the start of gold extraction operations, Prime Minister Hun Sen called for people not to commit illegal gold mining, noting that it takes special technical expertise, equipment and standards. There were several people mining for gold in the area before, according to Monirath.
“For the illegal business of people in the Renaissance license area, we have cooperated with the authorities to resolve the policy for them to leave,” he said.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50918936/cambodia-sends-first-gold-ore-shipment-abroad-for-purification/