Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Triple-listed gold miner OceanaGold reported lower copper and gold production for the third quarter ended September, on the back of lower grades at the Didipio and Waihi operations, in the Philippines and New Zealand respectively.
Gold production declined from 102 557 oz in the second quarter to 88 975 oz in the quarter under review. Copper production declined from 6 272 t to 5 114 t.
Consolidated production for the first nine months of 2016 reached 314 313 oz of gold and 17 358 t of copper.
Gold sales for the September quarter were 98 195 oz and copper sales amounted to 5 596 t.
“Our financial performance continued to be strong in the third quarter and we are well on track to achieve our 2016 production and cost guidance,” said OceanaGold CEO and president Mick Wilkes.
“With a strong balance sheet, we are well placed ahead of 2017, when we expect to generate even stronger cash flows with Haile being added to our stable of strong cash flow generating operations.”
Construction of all major infrastructure at the Haile project, in the US, is nearing completion, and commissioning activities have started at the crushing circuit. Mining activities are achieving steady-state rates of 60 000 t/d and at the end of the third quarter, some 350 000 t of oxide and transitional material was stockpiled.
Haile is expected to start commercial gold production in early 2017.