Resolute Mining Limited (ASX:RSG) (LON:RSG) has achieved commercial rates of ore production at its Syama Underground Gold Mine in Mali, mining and hauling more than 80% of nameplate mine capacity.

The ramp up of ore production at Syama is continuing and automated loading on the sublevel cave production levels has begun.

Syama will be the world’s first fully automated underground gold mine and at full capacity will produce about 46,000 tonnes of ore a week, or 2.4 million tonnes a year, using a fully integrated automated mine fleet.

Resolute managing director & CEO John Welborn confirmed Resolute continued to deliver on the company’s strategic goals for 2019, adding that the Syama Underground Mine would transform the company.

He said: “Achievement of sustained rates of commercial production from the world’s first fully automated underground gold mine is a key milestone for Syama, for Resolute, and for the mining industry.

“I congratulate the Syama project team, our operations team, and all our partners on this success.

“We are now focused on continuing the successful production ramp up to nameplate capacity and the completion of full automation of all aspects of the sublevel cave during 2019.”

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After the start of sublevel caving in December last year, the ramp-up of Syama focused on infrastructure, development and the automation implementation program.

Underground fibre backbone and mine-wide wireless network has been commissioned from the portal to the automated haulage level while the surface automation control room is now fully operational.

This network enables the operation of the automated haulage loop, automated rehandle level, mine digitisation and production automation, all of which allow operators to monitor and control mine production in real time.

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The next phase of automation work will see the commissioning of the 1055 haulage level with automated rehandle loaders and haulage trucks working together to load from an ore pass and truck directly to the surface run-of-mine pad.

With the fans, pump stations, control room and communications network complete, the automation project is being progressively handed over to the operations team which is now at normal operational manning levels.