A “tokenry” gold pour took place on Thursday, marking the completion of a long and arduous process to get the mine back to full production.

“It was our first gold pour event following commissioning phase of the mill and of mining processes,” Stawell Gold Mine general manager Troy Cole said.

“The pour is demonstrative that all systems are up and going and we are ready to go into mainstream production again.”

Related: Gold mine mill back up and running

The bar that was poured weighed just 244 ounces, about half of what a normal gold bar would weigh.

“The internal intent was to achieve this within the January period so we are very pleased to have done so,” Mr Cole said.

He said the first pour event was a good chance to thank those who had helped bring the mine back to where it was.

“We had an in-house function to take the opportunity to acknowledge the work of our employees, investors and all those that played a part in getting us to where we are now,” he said.

“We are very appreciative of the work everyone has done.”

The mine now has 141 employees engaged, growing from a small group of 12 just 12 months ago.

”We also nad between 40 and 60 contractors involved over the course of the last four months,” Mr Cole said.

“A lot were based locally or in regional Victoria so we have been able to contribute back into the local economy.”

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