Australian gold miner Evolution Mining has reported the first concentrate production from the silver rich A-39 deposit at its Mt Carlton gold-silver-copper mine in North Queensland.
The company stated that it will now focus on increasing the production of the processing plant at the mine to its full capacity by September 2013.
The processing plant has a current capacity of 800,000 tonne per annum.
Commenting on the developments Evolution executive chairman Jake Klein expects the mine to be the lowest cost mine after it reaches the full production capacity.
"The deposit was discovered in 2006 and construction commenced only five years later, in December 2011.
"This remarkably rapid timeframe for permitting and development underpins our belief that Australia, and in particular Queensland, is an excellent destination for investment, exploration and mining," elaborated Klein.
The project with the mine life of 12 years is expected to produce 720,000 ounces of gold, 14.4 million ounces of silver and 25,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate.
Evolution Mining meanwhile estimates the production of 370,000 to 410,000 ounces of gold for the fiscal 2013.