Amaroq Minerals reports steady progress at Nalunaq
By Josh White
Date: Wednesday 14 May 2025
(Sharecast News) - Amaroq Minerals reported steady operational progress at its Nalunaq gold project in Greenland during the first quarter on Wednesday, with the ramp-up of mining and processing facilities continuing amid the challenges of Arctic winter conditions.
The AIM-traded company said it ended the quarter with group liquidity of CAD 23.4m (£12.6m), including cash balances of CAD 16.7m and access to an undrawn CAD 23.7m revolving credit facility. Working capital in its gold business stood at CAD 22.2m.
Construction and commissioning of the Nalunaq processing plant continued following the first gold pour in late 2024, while mining activities advanced with the successful blasting of the first stope in March.
A key highlight for the quarter was the updated mineral resource estimate at Nalunaq, which showed a 51% increase in inferred contained gold to 326,300 ounces at 29.2 grams per tonne, alongside a maiden indicated resource of 157,600 ounces at 32.4 grams per tonne.
Post-period fire assay results confirmed higher-grade intersections and helped refine the mining plan.
Processing rates in the second quarter had regularly reached 250 tonnes per day, and performance was expected to build toward a 300 tonnes per day run rate by the fourth quarter.
Amaroq maintained a wide full-year gold production forecast of 5,000 to 20,000 ounces due to the commissioning nature of 2025 and intermittent stoppages to install final systems.
The company also reported progress on its nearby hydropower project, with construction set to begin in 2026 following completion of project design and scheduling later this year.
Phase two plant construction was expected to begin in the fourth quarter, alongside engineering work to boost nameplate capacity from 300 tonnes per day to 450 daily tonnes.
"As outlined at the time of our full year 2024 results, the pace of construction and commissioning activities at our Nalunaq plant during the first quarter of the year was understandably slow, due to the winter conditions in Greenland," said chief executive officer Eldur Olafsson.
"However, I am very pleased to report good progress so far in the second quarter within our plant commissioning and particularly in our mining operations.
"We utilised the winter months to mine the development tunnels, giving us access to the orebody in the Mountain Block, and I am pleased to say that towards the end of the quarter we have been achieving rates of up to 220 tonnes per day of ore, which is being stockpiled."
Olafsson said the company was now in the final stages of agreeing mining KPIs with its contractor Thyssen to support feeding the plant with enough ore to allow 300 tonnes daily processing capacity by the end of the year.
"I am also pleased to note steadily improving throughput rates at our processing facility, although it must be noted that this period is about testing each component within the facility, so we can then commission and calibrate phase one and plan the construction of phase two.
"Also during the quarter, we announced a 51% increased mineral resource, including a maiden Indicated resource for Nalunaq with MRE4.
"Exploration drilling at Nalunaq from 2022-24 has been a huge success, validated by MRE4 and confirming the exploration upside and mine scale potential, enabling us to ultimately mine more accurately and increase mine life confidence."
Eldur Olafsson said MRE4 was being integrated into the company's dynamic mine plan, allowing the mining teams to optimise their efforts.
"When combined with the updated KPIs set with our mining contractor, this enables us to deliver the right tonnage and grade to the processing facility.
"While we remain in the commissioning and construction phase at Nalunaq, I am encouraged by progress to date and, with conditions continuing to improve in Southern Greenland as we head into summer, our teams are working hard to deliver our targeted throughput by the end of the year and a busy exploration season."
At 1030 BST, shares in Amaroq Minerals were down 5.81% at 81p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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