PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Resolute Mining has reported a surge in production during the three months to March, owing to record gold production from its Syama operations, in Mali.
During the quarter, Resolute produced 91 792 oz of gold, compared with the 70 485 oz produced in the previous quarter.
The miner reported on Wednesday that the Syama operation produced 65 973 oz of gold during the three-month period, compared with 44 118 oz in the previous quarter, as the new oxide operation produced 19 130 oz of gold during the quarter under review.
The oxide plant continued to ramp-up during the quarter under review, with 256 596 t of ore milled, at a head grade of 2.58 g/t gold for the first full quarter of production.
Construction of the Phase 2 oxide tailings storage facility was started during the quarter, and would be completed before the end of June.
Meanwhile, gold production at the Ravenswood mine, in Queensland, reached 25 819 oz during the quarter under review, which was slightly lower than the 26 367 oz delivered in the previous quarter.
Resolute noted that throughput at Ravenswood decreased during the three months ended March owing to increasing hardness of ore, with a higher proportion of granite present. This also resulted in cost at the Ravenswood mine increasing from the $898/oz reported in the previous quarter, to $936/oz.
Total cash costs for the quarter declined from $874/oz to $758/oz on the back of the higher group gold production.
Resolute maintained its full-year production guidance of about 315 000 oz, at an average cash cost of $890/oz.