CNMC Goldmine Holdings Limited officially opened its flotation plant for processing of base metals in a ceremony officiated by the Chief Minister of Malaysia's Kelantan state. Built at a cost of about MYR 20 million, the plant will enable the Group to produce lead and zinc concentrate for sale. It is located at the Group's 10km2 Sokor gold mine in Kelantan.

Sokor had an estimated 135,290 tonnes of unmined lead and 143,510 tonnes of unmined zinc as at 31 December 2021, according to the latest annual findings from independent mining advisory firm Datamine Australia Pty Ltd. (operating as ‘Snowden Optiro') from Perth, Australia. These were nearly triple the estimates of 46,300 tonnes and 48,550 tonnes of unmined lead and zinc, respectively, which Optiro Pty Ltd. had reported for the previous year. Sokor also had about 5.73 million ounces of silver yet to be mined as at the end of last year, more than the 3.37 million ounces forecast by Snowden Optiro as at 31 December 2020.

The flotation plant began trial production of lead and zinc in June this year, a month after its construction was completed. It is designed to process about 550 tonnes of base-metal ore a day at full capacity. The Group, which started underground gold mining two years ago, is building two additional underground mining facilities at Sokor.

Ores extracted through underground mining usually contain more gold than those from open-pit or surface mining.