It said it was hoping to restart the operation in early December in line with the commissioning of a grid powerline project.

The company plans to update its full-year guidance in its next quarterly earnings report.

It had disappointed the market in August with a lower-than-expected updated 2018 production guidance, reflecting the inclusion of the RDM, Fazenda Brasileiro and Pilar mines in Brazil through its acquisition of Brio Gold. 

It had then put guidance at 325,000-350,000 ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of US$940-$975/oz.

The company said RDM's production had improved to 16,596oz in the third quarter, compared with 7,953oz a year earlier, but it had suffered from the lack of water and limited availability of diesel genset power.

Leagold expects to spend about US$5 million a month in October and November during the RDM shutdown, with $1.5 million needed to complete the powerline and $4 million to finish a tailings dam lift, and also evaluate ways to reduce water consumption and ramp up the processing plant from 7,000tpd to 9,000tpd.

It said the mine would then be "well positioned for stable production going into 2019".

CEO Neil Woodyer said RDM had been closed in August 2017 and restarted on an intermittent basis in early November with the onset of the rainy season.

"This year, RDM remained operational until early October as the processing plant benefitted from the water dam and pipeline that became operational in Q2 2017, but insufficient water volumes are available to continue processing operations as RDM transitions into the current rainy season," he said.

Leagold shares are down almost 35% year-to-date but rose more than 1% yesterday to C$1.91, capitalising it at $543.9 million.