Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Saracen Mineral Holdings on Wednesday reported that it was on track to exceed its 160 000 oz guidance for its 2015 financial year to June, as its year-to-date production had exceeded its guidance.
During the three months ended March, Saracen produced 41 550 oz of gold, which was just slightly below the 42 894 oz produced in the previous quarter.
The Carosue Dam operations, in Western Australia, delivered 150 881 oz during the nine-months to date, which was well within the 145 000 oz to 155 000 oz guidance delivered by Saracen previously.
Production during the March quarter was impacted on by lower ore production from the Red October mine, as a greater focus was placed on capital development, Saracen said. Ore stoping tonnes decreased by 52% compared with the previous quarter, resulting in lower average grades from the Red October underground operation.
Mill availability also fell from the 96% reported in the December quarter to 93%, owing to a combination of planned and unplanned downtime, relating to mill relines.
During the quarter under review, Saracen’s directors gave the development approval for the Thunderbox operation, also in Western Australia, following a positive feasibility study.
The Stage 1 openpit operation would deliver 597 000 oz of gold, over an initial mine life of four-and-a-half years, and along with organic growth at Carosue Dam would effectively double Saracen’s gold output to about 300 000 oz/y by 2017.