Timmins Gold sells 8% more gold ounces in Q2

Timmins Gold Corp. (TSE:TMM) reported Wednesday that for the three months ending September 30, the company produced 17,287 gold ounces, and 9,055 silver ounces in its second quarter.
As a result, the company, which is in commerical production at its San Francisco mine in Mexico, sold more gold ounces during the quarter, at 16,917, compared to 15,682 in the same period a year ago.
Average ore mined improved to  22,076 tonnes per day, versus 11,856 tonnes per day a year earlier.  Average ore processed came in at 14,829 tonnes per day, up from 11,856 tonnes per day in the second quarter of 2010.
During the latest quarter, the company said it was unable to apply the optimum solution flow of cyanide to heap leach pads due to an industry wide shortage of cyanide. Currently, however, it has a sufficient supply of cyanide, and has since increased the concentration of cyanide and solution flow rates to the heap leach pads, it added.
Timmins also said it has seen improvements in production rates during October, and expects to see continued production improvements compared to the three months ending September 30.
During the second quarter, the company completed the construction of a new crusher module to replace the existing screen and feeder with a new larger screen and feeder in the coming weeks, which will allow it to maintain consistent crusher throughput rates of 18,000 tonnes of ore per day. Ore mined but not currently processed is being stockpiled for future processing.
In addition to the crusher expansion, Timmins has acquired an additional 700 hectares of land for expansion of the operations at the La Chicharra pit located approximately 1.5 kilometres from the San Francisco main mine. Since July, the company has drilled more than 92,000 metres, which will be included, along with future drilling, in an updated technical report in the first quarter of 2012, the company said.
Drill results prior to July 1 will be the subject of an NI 43-101 compliant technical report being prepared by Micon International, which will be published around November 4.  The report will also include a new mine plan and updated cash costs.
In late September, the Mexico-focused producer said proven and probable reserves at the San Francisco open pit  were estimated at 1.21 million ounces of gold, represented by 64.25 million tonnes at 0.588 g/t (grams per tonne) gold, a 104% increase over the proven and probable reserves of 780,000 ounces (34.93 million tonnes at 0.695 g/t), net of production depletion of 129,000 gold ounces, it reported in November 2010.
As well as this pit, the company's key San Francisco project in the state of Sonora includes the nearby La Chicharra open pit, where updated proven and probable reserves have been estimated at 116,000 ounces of gold, represented by 8.15 million tonnes at 0.445 g/t gold.
Focused solely in Mexico, Timmins Gold is in commercial gold production at its wholly owned San Francisco gold mine in Sonora, Mexico. The mine is an open pit heap leach operation, with the company forecasting production at a rate in excess of 100,000 ounces of gold per year.