JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – LSE- and TSX-listed Centamin’s Sukari mine, in Egypt, produced 156 533 oz of gold in the third quarter of this year – a 26% quarter-on-quarter and a 5% year-on-year improvement and a new quarterly record.
“All sections of the mine continued to perform well during the third quarter, contributing to record production. The higher-grade zones of the openpit, exposed in the later part of the second quarter, continued to be mined during the third quarter, leading to an increase in head grade to the plant from the openpit,” CEO Andrew Pardey said in a statement on Monday.
The mining of higher-grade material from the openpit is expected to continue for the remainder of this year.
The openpit achieved record levels of both total material movement and ore production, with total material movement having increased by 6% quarter-on-quarter to 18.60-million tonnes.
Openpit ore production increased by 58% to 4.83-million tonnes at an average mined grade of 0.76 g/t.
The underground operation delivered 302 000 t of ore at an average mined grade of 7.98 g/t. Ore from stoping was 189 000 t at 8.21 g/t and ore from development was 113 000 t at 7.57 g/t.
Underground mining continued to perform well, with strong mining rates and grades achieved from both stoping and development activities.
“With the process plant also continuing to deliver high levels of productivity, we remain on course to meet our full year production guidance of 540 000 oz at a cash operating cost of $580/oz and an all-in sustaining cost of $790/oz,” said Pardey.