SRR aims for record production in 2019

10th May 2019 By: Tasneem Bulbulia - Senior Contributing Editor Online

Precious metals miner SSR Mining has delivered a strong production and financial performance in the March quarter, and is targeting record production for 2019, president and CEO Paul Benson said on Thursday.

Benson indicated in a statement announcing the first-quarter results that the company achieved near-record consolidated production of more than 112 000 gold-equivalent ounces at a lower cash cost of $712/oz of gold, driven by solid performance at all three of its operations in the Americas.

The Seabee gold operation in Saskatchewan, Canada, achieved record production at near-record low cash costs, while the 75%-owned and operated Puna operations joint venture in Jujuy, Argentina, benefited from a full quarter of processing higher grade Chinchillas ore and increasing by-product credits.

Seabee, produced 31 183 oz of gold at cash costs of $467/oz, the second lowest quarterly cash costs since acquiring the operation in 2016.

Silver production at Puna doubled to 2.4-million ounces of silver at lower cash costs of $9.94/oz of silver. The Chinchillas mine was substantially completed during the quarter.  

The Marigold mine in Nevada, US, delivered a solid performance, mining 17.3-million tonnes of material and producing  53 151 oz of gold at cash costs of $812/oz.

SSR’s solid financial performance was reflected in positive income from mine operations at all three mines totalling $30.2-million, net income of $5.7-million and adjusted attributable net income of $17.2-million, or $0.14 apiece. 

The Vancouver-based company completed a $230-million convertible notes offering. It issued $230-million aggregate principal amount of 2.50% unsecured convertible senior notes on March 19. A portion of the proceeds was used to repurchase $150-million of the company’s outstanding $265-million 2.875% convertible notes.

The company also maintained a strong balance sheet, with quarter-end cash increasing to $461-million.

For the full year, SSR is forecasting gold-equivalent production of 395 000 oz at a gold-equivalent cash cost of $700/oz. On an attributable basis, production is expected to be 375 000 gold-equivalent ounces.