PHNOM PENH: The first commercial gold extraction company in Cambodia, Renaissance Minerals Cambodia Limited (a subsidiary of Australia-listed Emerald Resources NL) located in Keo Seima district, Mondulkiri province, has extracted and refined more than 3.5 tons of gold ore with 90% pure gold solution since starting commercial production in June 2021.

This was revealed by the Director-General of Mineral Resources at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Ung Dipola, at a Tuesday, 9 August, press conference.

“The company has refined about 3,543 kg of gold ore,” he said, adding that the royalty income generated from the gold production was US $5.1 million.

Renaissance plans to refine an estimated 3 tons of gold ore every year for the first eight years of its operations, summing up to about 250 kg of gold ore per month. All extracted gold ore is sent to Australia for refining.

Recently, the company was granted a new mine exploration license on 107 hectares of land located in Memut district, Tboung Khmum province. This license allows Renaissance to conduct exploration of the land for three years, from January 2021 to January 2024.

The press conference also revealed that a new gold mining company, Delcom Campuchea Plc., has begun a trial operation in Preah Vihear Province, extracting about 20 kg of gold ore since 4 August.

Director-General Ung Dipola stated that Delcom is capable of producing around 340 kg of gold per year, with yearly royalty income expected to be US $600,000.