PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Andy Well gold mine, in Western Australia, exceeded production expectations during the three months to December, with owner Doray Minerals saying that the project had beaten expectations by some 8%.
MD Allan Kelly said in a conference call on Thursday that after producing 21 507 oz of gold during the December quarter, the Andy Well mine was on track to deliver at the upper end of the full-year production guidance of between 78 000 oz and 85 000 oz.
“We have also maintained our position as the highest-grade gold operation in Australia,” Kelly said.
Despite beating production guidance, the December quarter production was still slightly below the 25 690 oz of gold production achieved in the previous quarter, as head grades at the mine decreased from 9.8 g/t gold to 8.2 g/t gold.
C1 operating costs also increased from A$546/oz to A$680/oz, as the Andy Well operation ceased production from its openpit mine, and became a purely underground operation.
Kelly noted that during the month of December, Doray also brought forward a mill reline and tank refurbishment at Andy Well, which increased C1 cash costs for the quarter under review.
“But for the year-to-date, C1 costs are at the bottom-end of our guidance, while production is at the top-end, so we are very happy with that at the moment,” Kelly added.
Meanwhile, construction of the Deflector project, also in Western Australia, was progressing on track, with Kelly saying that openpit mining was expected to start in February this year, while commissioning of the purpose-built processing plant was on track for May.
Once in production, the Deflector project would increase Doray’s annual output to some 140 000 oz.