Officials with Golden Band Resources say production is picking up in their La Ronge-area mines despite a few setbacks.
Third quarter results indicate a net profit of $1.8 million for sales of over 9,600 ounces of gold, a 16% drop in production from the previous quarter.
Company vice-president and CFO Mark Thiel says production could have been higher, but there has been a shortage of experienced workers.
Thiel says there is competition from the many mining operations in Saskatchewan and other factors affecting staff turnover.
“Maybe it has to do with lengths of the shift. Our operations, we tend to rotate people who work two weeks in and then they will be off two weeks. The uranium mines tend to be one week in, one week out — some people prefer that shift. So, they’ll come to us and say: ‘I’d rather work a week in and week out’. That’s just not how we manage our operations, so they’ll say: ‘Fine, then I’m going to go work in the uranium mines’.”
Thiel says there were also some production slowdowns caused by equipment failures.
He adds geological work continues on potential expansions at the EP mine and for open pit operations at the Komis mine.
A diamond drill program is also expected to be completed next month.