Toronto-listed New Gold has announced the completion of a significant production milestone at the New Afton copper and gold mine, in British Columbia, and the Rainy River gold mine, in Ontario.

C-Zone, New Afton's fourth block cave, achieved commercial production ahead of schedule with the materials handling system coming on line in October and the cave footprint reaching the targeted hydraulic radius for self-cave propagation.

Installation of the gyratory crusher and conveyor system was completed ahead of schedule and C-Zone is now set up for high capacity, low-cost, low-emission ore transportation for the life-of-mine.

Further, construction of the C-Zone cave footprint has reached the targeted 18 draw bells for hydraulic radius. These two milestones are expected to have an immediate positive impact on unit operating costs and ultimately facilitate a ramp-up to previously achieved processing rates of more than 14 500 t/d by 2026.

At Rainy River, first development ore was mined from Underground Main, ahead of schedule. Underground Main contains the majority of underground mineral reserves at Rainy River and will be an important source of higher-grade production in the coming years to supplement mill feed from the openpit and the Intrepid underground zone. Mining of first ore follows the completion of the main fresh air raise and in-pit portal in the third quarter.

With these milestones completed, the Underground Main project is on track to start stoping in the first half of 2025 and ramp up to an underground production rate of about 5 500 t/d by 2027.

"Today's announcement highlights delivery of critical milestones at both of our growth projects, ahead of schedule," stated president and CEO Patrick Godin.

"At New Afton, safely achieving commercial production at C-Zone and commissioning of the crusher and conveyor system will have a meaningful and immediate impact on costs, which will translate to ongoing and annual sustained free cash flow generation.

“At Rainy River, accessing first development ore from Underground Main marks a key milestone and the underground mine remains well positioned to achieve the 5 t/d production target by 2027,” he said.

Godin stated that technical studies were under way at both operations with the objective of replacing depletion of mineral reserves and unlocking additional value.