The Olympias mine, in Greece.
The share price of Canadian miner Eldorado Gold extended its recent gains on Tuesday, buoyed by election results in Greece and news that the company is on track to achieve its full-year production target.
The miner, which owns mines in Turkey, Canada and Greece, produced 91 803 oz of gold in the second quarter, down from 99 105 oz in the same period a year earlier. Year-to-date production is 174 780 oz, which Eldorado said stood it in good stead to meet its yearly guidance of 390 000 oz to 420 000 oz.
The company produced 349 147 oz in 2018 and aimed to increase output to more than half-a-million ounces by 2020.
Eldorado operates the Olympias mine and owns the Skouries project in Greece, but has been in a longstanding standoff over permits for the Skouries project. Greece’s new Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was sworn in on Monday, and his ascension to power should bolster prospects for the project.
Mitsotakis has said he will make it a priority to unblock the Skouries project and previously vowed to issue permits in his first month in office.
The operating Olympias mine disappointed in the second quarter with production of 6 924 oz, compared with 15 895 oz a year earlier. Eldorado explained that production was lower-than-planned, owing to limited headings underground as a result of slower-than-anticipated capital development and a backlog of stopes to be filled. This reduced the tonnage fed to the processing plant. A new underground contractor was mobilised during the second quarter and capital development rates were expected to increase over the second half of 2019.
In Turkey, at the Kisladag mine, mining and stacking of ore resumed at the start of the second quarter. The mine produced 26 072 oz in the June quarter, compared with 55 930 oz in the second quarter of 2018. Efemcukuru, also in Turkey, produced 25 667 oz in the June quarter, compared with 24 146 oz a year earlier.
At Lamaque, Canada, where commercial operations were declared on March 31, second quarter production came in at a strong 33 140 oz.
The dual-listed miner’s share price has been trending upwards for the past month and hit a 52-week high of C$8.72 a share on Tuesday. The stock closed 5.65% up at C$8.60 a share on the TSX and at $6.55 a share on the NYSE.