TSX-listed gold, copper and silver miner Dundee Precious Metals produced 72 900 oz of gold and 8.8-million pounds of copper in the second quarter, taking the total gold produced for the year to date to 135 800 oz; while copper totals 16.5-million pounds.
The miner has its Chelopech and Ado Tepe mines in Bulgaria, as well as a gold project in the same country; while its Loma Larga gold project is in Ecuador.
Chelopech produced 49 200 oz of gold and 8.8-million pounds of copper during the second quarter, benefitting from higher gold grades and recoveries.
Ada Tepe produced about 23 700 oz of gold during the second quarter; while grades at the mine are expected to increase in the fourth quarter in line with the mine plan.
Both mines are on track to achieve their full-year guidance.
As such, the miner is on track to meet this year’s consolidated guidance for gold of between 250 000 oz and 290 000 oz; while copper is forecasted to range between 32-million and 37-million pounds.
In its efforts to reward shareholders, Dundee will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.04 apiece on July 15.
For the second quarter, Dundee sold 62 700 oz of gold and 7.3-million pounds of copper; while year-to-date gold sold totals 120 100 oz and copper 13.8-million pounds.
Dundee’s Namibia-based Tsumeb smelter produced 21 100 t of concentrate in the second quarter, taking the year-to-date total volume of concentrate produced to 68 300 t; while full-year guidance for the smelter ranges between 210 000 t and 240 000 t.
However, the smelter was impacted by unplanned downtime as a result of water leaks that were resolved during the planned Ausmelt maintenance shutdown completed during the second quarter. This 45-day shutdown included additional maintenance to the off-gas and baghouse systems, which is expected to improve operational performance moving forward.
President and CEO David Rae says that with the completion of the planned maintenance at the Tsumeb smelter, Dundee expects improved smelter performance over the balance of the year.
Nonetheless, because of the smelter’s performance in the first six months of the year, Dundee is reviewing its full-year guidance for Tsumeb, as complex concentrate smelted is expected to be lower than the current range with cash cost a tonne smelted expected to increase as a result of the lower production.
Meanwhile, he says permitting activities for the Loma Larga project continue to progress well. “At the end of June, we achieved a key milestone with the receipt of the technical viability certificate for the filtered tailings storage facility. We continue to engage proactively with all stakeholders to build further support for the project.”
However, impacting progress at Loma Larga was the temporarily suspended Citizens Participation Process – part of the procedure to obtain the project’s environmental licence – owing to national protests which occurred in the second half of June, and which is expected to resume towards the end of July.
Work related to the revised feasibility study is continuing as planned, while drilling activities remain suspended at Loma Larga.