JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – LSE- and TSX-listed Centamin achieved “a strong operational finish” to 2017, with the company’s Sukari mine, in Egypt, having produced 154 298 oz of gold in the fourth quarter, resulting in full-year gold production of 544 658 oz – exceeding guidance of 540 000 oz.

“All sections of the mine continued to perform well, maintaining strong operational momentum throughout the fourth quarter which we look forward to building on in 2018,” Centamin CEO Andrew Pardey commented in a statement on Wednesday.

Centamin, meanwhile, reported a record quarterly throughput of 33.07-million tonnes from the processing plant, which is a 2.5% increase quarter-on-quarter and a 4.2% increase year-on-year.

Openpit total material movement was 17.6-million tonnes, a decline of 5% quarter-on-quarter but a 12% increase year-on-year.

2018 OUTLOOK
Centamin has raised its production guidance from Sukari for this year by 6% to 580 000 oz. It expects to achieve a cash cost of production of $555/oz and an all-in-sustaining cost of $770/oz, which Centamin believes will result in significant free cash flow for its shareholders.

The processing plant throughput is forecast at 12.3-million tonnes for the year, with the installation of the fourth secondary crusher expected to increase capacity.

A total of 70.5-million tonnes of openpit material is scheduled to be mined, with 17.7-million tonnes of total openpit ore scheduled to be mined at an overall grade of 0.7 g/t, including dump-leach and stockpile material.

The openpit mining activities will be focused on Stage 4A of the north wall, the predominant source of ore over the next five years.

A total of 1.3-million tonnes of underground ore is scheduled to be mined at a grade of 7.2 g/t, comprising a 65:35 split respectively between stoping and development ore.

Further, Centamin reported ongoing decline development and exploration at Cleopatra to access the high-grade western contact, which is a key near-term growth catalyst, as well as ongoing underground decline development at Amun and Ptah to access the Horus, Bast and Osiris zones, which are key drivers of medium-term growth.

Four exploration rigs will also be allocated to focus on underground reserve replacement and resource expansion drilling as the orebody remains open in multiple directions.

“With underground development expected to allow for a further improvement in sustainable underground production rates, consistent openpit mill feed grades and an increase in plant throughput, we look forward to delivering solid growth in 2018,” Pardey noted, commenting that Sukari continues to demonstrate its “world class” nature with long-term, large-scale and sustainable low-cost production.

According to Pardey, Sukari’s growth remains anchored by the 20-year life-of-mine, bulk tonnage, openpit operation with an expanding high-grade underground operation.

“Our mineral reserve and resource update further supports our expectation for ongoing replacement of underground reserves over the coming years as development continues to extend along strike and at depth, as Centamin remains focused on unlocking Sukari’s true potential,” he stated.