JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – LSE-listed Nordgold on Wednesday said refined gold output of 476 100 oz was achieved during the first half of the year – a 14% increase on the prior corresponding period as eight of the gold producer’s nine mines achieved a year-on-year production increase.

The company said it was well on track to meet its full-year production forecast of between 870 000 oz and 920 000 oz.

Nordgold’s Bissa gold mine, in Burkina Faso, achieved a 19% increase in production during the six-month period, producing 134 000 oz; however, this was as a result of strong first-quarter production, as second-quarter production had declined by 9% year-on-year to 65 800 oz.

Meanwhile, production at Nordgold’s Taparko mine, also in Burkina Faso, was up 16% year-on-year to 63 900 oz.

“As a result of a softer mill-feed blend and improvements made to the plant operating and blending strategies in 2014, ore processing volumes increased in the first half of 2014 to 842 000 t compared with 739 000 t in the first half of 2013,” the company said.

Nordgold also noted that second-quarter gold production at Taparko increased by 19% to 30 800 oz, up from 25 800 oz during the prior corresponding period.

Further, the group’s Lefa operation, in Guinea, showed strong operating results during the second quarter as a result of its turnaround programme. The mine produced 46 500 oz of gold during the second quarter, up 27% year-on-year, which contributed to the 22% increase in first-half production to 86 600 oz.

“Nordgold has achieved yet another outstanding operating performance in the latest quarter. Our relentless focus on increasing operational performance while prudently deploying capital expenditure is delivering improved production and efficiencies across all our mine sites,” Nordgold CEO Nikolai Zelenski said.

He noted that while the Bissa mine, as well as the company’s Berezitovy operation, in Russia, continued its flagship performance, production at Lefa and the Buryatzoloto mine, in Russia, had significantly improved, confirming the success of the company’s turnaround programme.

“Our optimised blending strategy combined with [the] implementation of [a] plant improvement programme has delivered record recovery at Taparko,” Zelenski added.

Meanwhile, the CEO also stated that Nordgold had made significant progress in enhancing its mineral base.

“We have acquired two satellite projects, Ronguen, next to Bissa, and Onot-Kitoiskaya, next to Zun-Holba, and made an investment in Northquest, which owns a promising Pistol Bay project, in northern Canada.

“We have also delivered a robust preliminary economic assessment of the Bouly project, in Burkina Faso, moving the project into the feasibility study phase. Finally, pilot-stage production at Gross is progressing according to schedule with preliminary leaching data [in line with the] results of the feasibility study,” he said.

Zelenski added that the company’s focus remained on maintaining cost discipline and improving efficiency and safety across the group while it continued to work towards its goal of achieving positive free-cash-flow generation at all the company’s mines.

Meanwhile, the company noted that the average gold price during the first half of the year was $1 295/oz, a fall of 13% from the 2013 price of $1 482/oz.

However, despite the decline in the gold price, Nordgold’s revenue totalled $616.8-million, which was almost at the level of the first half of 2013, when the company achieved revenue of $617.1-million.