Development and ore extraction at the Friday underground mine will start in June, with 3,500 tons of blasted material already available.

There is also 3,000 tons of ore stockpiled on surface at the mine which will be transported to the Orogrande processing plant and provide feed stock for the plant start-up.

Commissioning of the processing plant is expected in July, and it will reach full capacity at 7 dry tons per hour by October, said the company. 

In addition, a low cost low-tech solution to tailings dewatering will be implemented that requires no new permitting.

Endomines put Friday mine and Orogrande processing facility on care and maintenance at the end of August 2020 following the mechanical breakdown of the tailings dewatering system in February.

The COVID-19 pandemic at the time impacted the ability to secure suitable dewatering replacement equipment, and this disrupted the capacity of the processing plant.

Friday has a measured and indicated resource of 97,200oz of gold contained in 462,000 tonnes mineralized material, as well as an additional inferred resource of 46,700 ounces gold contained in 296,000 tonnes mineralized material.