Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Metals miner Sandfire Resources has maintained its production forecast for the full year after producing 15 492 t of copper and 5 957 oz of gold during the three months to the end of December.
This compared with the 16 446 t of copper and 8 613 oz of gold produced in the previous three months.
The miner said on Tuesday that average copper recovery during the quarter increased to 90%, up from the 82% reported in the September quarter, owing to the fact that no openpit material was processed during the quarter under review, allowing only primary underground sulphide ore to be milled.
Underground mining at the DeGrussa operation, in Western Australia, also progressed on schedule with five stopes now in various stages of development and production.
The underground mine achieved its targeted production rate of 1.5-million tonnes a year during the quarter.
Looking ahead, the miner noted that copper production for the 2014 financial year would be between 65 000 t and 75 000 t of contained copper, while gold production would be at the lower end of between 35 000 oz and 45 000 oz.
Production would be weighted towards the second half of the year owing to the expected variability in mined head grade across the different stopes, as part of the underground mine plan, Sandfire said.