effective date for the Form S-1 registration statement filed by Fortitude on October 19, 2020 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The transaction is targeted to be completed by year-end 2020 or in the first quarter of 2021.
COVID-19 Pandemic
On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) announced a global health emergency because of a new strain of coronavirus. In March 2020, the WHO classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic based on the rapid increase in global exposure. In response to the pandemic, many jurisdictions, including the United States and Mexico, instituted restrictions on travel, public gatherings and certain business operations.
Currently the mining industry is listed as an essential business in the State of Nevada and we continue to operate our mining unit while utilizing appropriate safety measures. On March 31, 2020, the Mexican government issued a national health emergency with an immediate suspension order for all “non-essential” public and private sector business (which included mining). As a result, we suspended our Mexico operations and production on April 1, 2020. The Mexican government then designated mining as an essential business in mid-May 2020 and as a result, we were given approval to restart our operations on May 27, 2020.
In an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and protect the health and safety of our employees, contractors, and communities, we have taken precautionary measures including specialized training, social distancing, screening workers before they enter facilities, a work from home mandate where possible, and close monitoring of national and regional COVID-19 impacts and governmental guidelines. Since our non-mining workforce is able to work remotely using various technology tools, we are able to maintain our operations and internal controls over financial reporting and disclosures.
We are not able to estimate the long-term impact of COVID-19 on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and liquidity for fiscal year 2020. However, we believe we have sufficient liquidity available from operating cash flow and cash on hand going forward.
Oaxaca Mining Unit Production and Sales
Oaxaca Mining Unit Production
Gold and silver production for the third quarter of 2020 totaled 4,728 ounces and 324,592 ounces, respectively, compared to 7,462 and 473,810 ounces over the same period in 2019. The decrease in gold and silver production was the result of lower precious metal grades as expected based on the mine plan. In addition, while our workforce has been fully reengaged after the second quarter mandatory COVID-19 shutdown, the protocols and safety measures put in place has resulted in lost workdays of our workforce, decreasing throughput, which contributed to lower production in the third quarter.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, we produced 13,619 and 912,464 gold and silver ounces, respectively, as compared to 21,881 and 1,304,975 gold and silver ounces, respectively, over the same period in 2019. The decrease is primarily due to the suspension of operations for COVID-19 in the second quarter of 2020 and reduced productions in the third quarter, discussed above.