JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim- and OSE-listed Avocet Mining’s three producing mines had increased output by 74% to 97 747 oz of gold in the six months ended June 30, 2010, compared with the 56 297 oz of gold produced in the six months ended September 2009.

The Inata gold mine, in Burkina Faso, alone produced 51 063 oz of gold during the first half of this year.

“The progress achieved at Inata in the first half of the year has been better than expected. The ramp-up to in excess of 10 000 oz/m of gold production was achieved earlier than originally anticipated and we are on track to deliver 220 000 oz of production in 2010,” CEO Brett Richards said.

Inata had achieved its first gold pour on December 20, last year.

Chairperson Nigel McNair Scott stated that Inata’s ramp-up to a production rate of 140 000 oz/y of gold would be completed during the second half of this year.

He added that Avocet’s priority in West Africa would then be to accelerate the future growth in resources, reserves and gold produced through “aggressive” exploration and expansion planning.

Richards noted that previous drilling at the Bélahouro region, where the Inata licence area was located, had been limited. This represented opportunities for further growth.

However, while the Inata mine had continued to perform well, Avocet’s Penjom and North Lanut mines, located in Malaysia and Indonesia, respectively, had experienced some operational challenges.

Output from the Penjom mine had been lower than had been expected, while costs had increased, as the company had to remove a significant amount of waste material from the mine to access new ore zones to the west and east of the main pit.

Output fell by 24% to 24 130 oz of gold in the first six months of this year, compared with 31 741 oz in the first half of last year.

Further, the North Lanut mine had produced 22 554 oz of gold during the six months, which had been in line with expectations, despite heavy rainfalls early in the year having impacted on mine tonnages and leach-pad recoveries.

However, costs at the mine had also increased, as mining was now being undertaken at two pits, namely the Rasik and Riska pits.

Avocet was confident that the North Lanut mine would reach its targeted full-year output of 48 000 oz of gold.

However, Avocet has started a strategic review of these two South East Asian assets to ensure that they could deliver maximum value.

The company was already holding discussions with other parties over the potential sale of these assets, but said that a number of other outcomes, including potentially joining up with new partners in the region and the potential further development of the assets, were also being considered.

The strategic review would be concluded by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, Avocet had recorded a net profit of $11,1-million for the six months, compared with the $4,5-million loss incurred during the six months ended September 2009.

The company had changed its financial year-end from March to December at the end of last year.