TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canadian gold producer Barrick Gold has cut is full-year output guidance as a mechanical issue at the Pueblo Viejo mine, in the Dominican Republic, is expected to result in lower output at the operation until mid-January 2016.
TSX- and NYSE-listed Barrick now expected to produce 6-million to 6.15-million ounces of gold in 2015, at all-in sustaining costs of $830/oz to $870/oz, down from between 6.1-million and 6.3-million ounces guided previously.
Pueblo Viejo is a joint venture owned by Barrick (60%) and Goldcorp (40%).
Barrick said on Monday that two of three electric motors at the mine's oxygen plant experienced an unexpected failure on Thursday and had subsequently been shipped to a specialised facility in the US for repair.
One motor remained operational. The plant provided the oxygen required for the autoclave processing facility that treated Pueblo Viejo's refractory ore. Until the damaged motors were repaired, the autoclave facility would operate at a reduced capacity. The cause of the motor failure was currently under investigation, Barrick advised.
Barrick, the project's operator, advised that Pueblo Viejo's property and machinery breakdown insurance, including business interruption coverage, would be triggered after 30 days.