Red River Resources starts Hillgrove gold production with first ore delivered and processing being ramped up

Red River Resources Ltd (ASX:RVR) (FRA:R1R) has started production at its Hillgrove Gold Operation in New South Wales, with its first ore delivered and processed.  The Bakers Creek stockpile mining and trucking activities have commenced with the first ore delivered to Hillgrove ROM Pad on December 23, 020. First ore was processed through the Hillgrove Mill on December 29 and the plant is ramping up to steady-state production.  The company has also increased its workforce at the previous operating site to more than 50 people. Shares higher Investors have welcomed the milestone with shares almost 7.7% higher to 28 cents while the company's market cap sits at approximately  $134.6 million. During the past 12 months, shares have traded in the range of 4.2 cents to 31 cents with this reached last month. Processing plant The Hillgrove site includes a 250,000 tonnes per annum capacity processing plant, comprising a selective flotation circuit (capable of producing antimony-gold and refractory gold concentrates), an antimony leach/EW/refining and casting plant, a gold cyanide leach circuit and gold room plus a pressure oxidation circuit. The site also has a fully high-density polyethylene (HDPE) lined modern tailing storage facility and has about two years of production storage capacity. Hillgrove has all the office facilities required for operations, including an administration office, mining operations offices, maintenance offices, workshops (heavy vehicle, light vehicle and boilermaker’s workshops), process plant offices, metallurgical laboratory building, first aid building, stores warehouse and core shed and yard. The Hillgrove Gold Operation is a residential site, with the majority of the workforce residing in Armidale and the surrounding area. Hillgrove Gold Operation The Hillgrove Gold Operation is about 30 kilometres from Armidale in northern New South Wales. To date, Hillgrove has produced more than 730,000 ounces of gold (both in bullion and concentrates), more than 50,000 tonnes of antimony (as metal and in concentrates), plus material amounts of by-product tungsten (in concentrates). The project has a substantial high-grade JORC 2012-compliant mineral resource of 5.0 million tonnes at 4.3 g/t gold and 1.5% antimony (6.4 g/t gold equivalent) for 692,000 ounces of gold and 75,000 tonnes of antimony. Red River controls the known Hillgrove Mineral Field, which hosts more than 200 known gold-antimony deposits. The majority of these deposits are steeply dipping vein systems within NW to WNW striking fracture systems, where the vein systems transition to gold dominant at depth with increasing levels of free gold. All known vein systems are open at depth.