The company had hoped to be in production in July, saying in August it was disappointed with the "historic delays to permitting" but had made adjustments, aiming for commercial production in the fourth quarter.

Permitting for the 12-year project was granted in September and president and CEO Stephen Roman announced the first gold pour yesterday, with gold recovered on-site by gravity processing.

"With this achievement we have advanced from permitting the project to gold production in under four weeks, a significant accomplishment," he said.

Roman said the plant start-up had run smoothly and the company had restarted ore production from underground.

The company has a 100,000m drill programme underway and expects to incorporate results into an updated resource and mine plan early next year.

It received backing from Sprott and Appian in May through a US$70 million debt financing package to fund the project to commercial production.

A preliminary economic assessment announced the same day outlined average annual gold production of 80,700 ounces at an all-in sustaining cost of US$708/oz over an 11-year mine life, using a phased development, starting with a 540tpd operation.

Harte is aiming for a plus-100,000oz annual production profile by 2021.

Shares in the company have ranged from C29-59c over the past year and closed down 1.2% yesterday to 41c, capitalising it at $238 million.