https://www.miningweekly.com

Kirkland Q1 output down 3% q-o-q owing to planned shutdowns

22nd August 2013

By: Creamer Media Reporter

  

Font size: - +

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner and explorer Kirkland Lake Gold produced 30 316 oz of gold in the three months ended July – the first quarter of its 2014 financial year.

Output was down slightly on the 31 503 oz produced in the previous quarter, but 74% higher than the 17 396 oz produced in the first quarter of the 2013 financial year.

The company produced 97 788 t of ore at a head grade of 0.3246 oz/t. The ore tonnage produced was a quarterly record, as was the average daily ore tonnage rate of 1 063 t.

Kirkland Lake stated that, despite the record ore tonnage rates, production for the quarter was impacted on by a number of planned shutdowns related to the work needed to increase the average mine hoisting capacity to 2 200 t a day, as well as to increase the capacity of the processing plant.

Work undertaken during the quarter included replacing the 10 t skips with 12.5 t skips, as well as work to optimise the existing mill grinding circuit and to bring the new crushing circuit on line.

The estimated impact of these shutdowns was two to three weeks of normal production over the quarter, which was slightly longer than expected. As a result, the production tonnage was 4.6% under planned production for the quarter.

Kirkland Lake warned that its processing plant would be impacted on by several more planned shutdowns throughout the 2014 financial year, as new equipment is brought on line.

The shutdowns were likely to affect the timing of production, but the gold miner was confident that it would not impact on overall production, with the company’s output guidance for the full year remaining at between 150 000 oz and 180 000 oz of gold.

Production is planned to increase quarterly over the course of the year, but the rate at which this occurs will be dependent on the rate at which the critical path activities are completed.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Online Managing Editor

Article Enquiry

Email Article

Save Article

Feedback

To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Showroom

Willard
Willard

Rooted in the hearts of South Africans, combining technology and a quest for perfection to bring you a battery of peerless standing. Willard...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
SafeQuip
SafeQuip

SafeQuip is a leading distributor and manufacturer of fire safety solutions, offering a comprehensive range of products designed to meet all...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.06 0.712s - 110pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now