Nordic Gold has completed the first pour of gold at its wholly-owned Laiva mine, near Raahe in Finland, with 1,234 oz of the yellow metal produced.

On October 11, 2018, Laiva received written approval for start-up and mining started on August 5, 2018. IM visited the mine in August and witnessed some of the developments.

The company acquired Laiva in December for approximately C$25 million ($19 million) in cash and shares.

“Since that time, the company has completed an updated NI-43-101 resource calculation, completed a preliminary economic assessment, recruited an experienced management team to operate the mine, completed all necessary permitting and approvals to operate,” the company said.

“The company has also completed all the necessary plant maintenance and recommissioning.”

Michael Hepworth, President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “The first pour is a critical but vital step in returning Laiva to commercial production. The last 18 months has been focused on using past production data and learning from this information.

“Many fixes have been implemented and as we move towards commercial production further improvements will be implemented to ensure appropriate economics and efficiencies. The team at the mine has done an outstanding job of getting back to production in an incredibly short timeframe. From care and maintenance to production in around 11 months is something everyone can be very proud of.”

A detailed write up of the Laiva operation, which previously operated from 2011 to 2014, was included in the November issue of IM.