Steppe Gold Limited (TSX:STGO, OTCQX:STPGF) reported gold production continued to increase in May, with two more gold pours leading to approximately 3,800 ounces (oz) of production for the month.

That compares to production of 3,370 ounces in April and 1,532 ounces in March, the company said.

“We are very pleased to report another strong month of production in May at the ATO Gold Mine,” Steppe Gold CEO Bataa Tumur-Ochir said in a statement.

“All activities on the site are working well. Our design work for the Phase 2 expansion is underway and the contractor selection process is underway. We are also very pleased to start exploration drilling on the very promising UK project (Uudam Khundii),” he added.

READ: Steppe Gold reports increased first-quarter revenue as company ramps up production at its ATO mine in Mongolia

The company also confirmed that it received three shipments of reagents in May, where the plan is to build up its stockpiles of reagents to allow for additional areas under leaching. The unleached sections of Cell 4 are now online, allowing for a continued increase in production rate.

Additionally, mining and stacking activities are scheduled for the month, with stacking of Cell 4 now complete. Meanwhile, a new crushing unit is expected to be operational in August, paving the way for higher stacking rates for the second half of 2022.

Mining activities continued at higher than expected rates with the transportation of high-grade blast material at ATO 1 and ATO 4. Topsoil removal was completed at ATO 2 while the extraction of free digging has begun, the company said.

Steppe Gold has also set up an exploration camp on the Uudam Khundii project (UK) located in the highly prospective Bayankhongor gold belt in Western Mongolia with initial drilling programs underway.

Elsewhere, Steppe Gold will attend the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention in Toronto. The Steppe team, along with officials from the Mongolian government and other mining leaders will be in attendance from 1:30-6:00 p.m. ET on June 13, followed by a networking reception. Steppe will also be present at the show at stand #2725.

Contact Andrew Kessel at [email protected]

Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel