Equinox Gold, which produced about 26 000 oz of gold from its Mesquite gold mine, in California, in 2018, expects to produce 230 000 oz to 265 000 oz of gold this year at an all-in-sustaining cost (AISC) of $900/oz to $950/oz.
This year's production will include contributions from Mesquite, which the company bought last year, and the Aurizona gold mine, in Brazil, which is ramping up to commercial production.
“Equinox Gold has achieved tremendous growth over the last year and will soon become a multimine gold producer,” CEO Christian Milau said in a release on Tuesday.
The company expects this momentum to continue this year as it plans construction at its Castle Mountain gold mine, in California, capitalises on growth opportunities at its existing assets and continues to assess accretive acquisition opportunities, he added.
Aurizona is expected to reach commercial production at the end of the first quarter this year, while a prefeasibility study has been completed at Castle Mountain, outlining a long-life, low-cost gold mine producing 200 000 oz/y.
Equinox will spend about $62-million in capital expenditure (capex) at the Mesquite and Aurizona mines this year.
At Aurizona, the company expects to spend $31-million to complete construction and commissioning during the first quarter and an additional $16-million of sustaining capex over the year that includes the completion of a second tailings storage facility lift.
At Mesquite, the company expects to spend $11-million in sustaining capex, primarily related to capitalised waste stripping within the openpit, as well as $4-million in nonsustaining costs, primarily related to drilling mineralised waste dumps and leach pads that are expected to be classified as ore.
Meanwhile, Equinox’s proven and probable reserves increased by 480% in 2018 to 5.7-million ounces of gold, while its measured and indicated resources increased by 350% to 8.3-million ounces of gold.
New gold discoveries were identified at Aurizona and Castle Mountain during the year.
Further, the company completed the spin-out of Solaris Copper to its shareholders and the sale of the Koricancha mill.