By: OrePulse

TSX-listed Dynacor Group has completed its first gold pour at the Galam pilot plant in Senegal, the company said, marking its entry into gold processing on the African continent.

The pour, completed on September 30, used gold-silver cement produced through the plant's Merrill-Crowe circuit to produce doré. Dynacor said plant run time and gold recovery rates have been improving steadily since the facility was commissioned earlier this year.

Galam is a wholly owned Dynacor subsidiary operating a 50-tonne-per-day modular processing plant in the Kédougou region of southeastern Senegal, where the company said about 98% of the country's registered artisanal and small-scale gold mining sites are located. The plant is licensed to process ore sourced from artisanal and small-scale miners under Senegal's permitting system.

Dynacor president and chief executive Daniel Misiano said: "We are delighted to highlight our first gold pour on the continent of Africa, marking our transition into a geographically diversified gold processor." He added that Galam "is now the first gold processing plant servicing permitted ASGM in Senegal and poised to deliver strong benefits to stakeholders."

The company said that if performance at the pilot scale proves favorable, it intends to use Galam as a precursor to a larger, 300-tonne-per-day commercial processing plant in Senegal, which would expand its processing capacity and geographic diversification on the continent.

Dynacor has operated since 1996 and processes ore sourced from artisanal miners under what it describes as rigorous traceability standards. The Canadian company currently operates the Veta Dorada processing plant. It holds gold exploration properties in Peru, and it said it is expanding its operations across West Africa and Latin America.