Centerra Gold has declared that its Öksüt gold mine in Turkey has achieved commercial production.

The achievement, made as of May 31, 2020, comes four months after the first gold pour on January 31.

Since the inaugural pour, the mine has continued to ramp up mining, crushing, stacking, irrigation of the heap leach pad, as well as the operation of the adsorption-desorption recovery plant and gold production, Centerra said.

Scott Perry, President and CEO, said: “Commercial production at Öksüt marks a major milestone for the company. Öksüt was delivered on time and under budget.

“Centerra now has three producing operations which are expected to generate meaningful free cash flow as we continue to deliver growth and value for shareholders.”

Öksüt was planned as a conventional truck and shovel open-pit heap leach mining operation with a stacking rate of 11,000 t/d. The initial eight-year mine life was expected to process around 1.2 million contained ounces of gold from two open pits, the Keltepe pit and the smaller Güneytepe pit.