RESOLUTE Mining CEO, John Welborn, forecast 8% higher all-in sustaining costs (AISC) than previously guided for the firm’s 2019 financial year owing to downtime at Syama gold mine in Mali.
The AISC number is now put at $1,020 per ounce compared to a previous estimate of $960/oz as a consequence of a crack in the mine’s sulphide circuit requiring repairs. The Syama team has embarked on a full maintenance check of processing equipment.
Resolute said last week that it hadn’t yet made any revisions to full year production for the group, although there is yet a chance that gold output may come in lower.
“[W]e have not made any immediate [Miningmx emphasis] change to existing FY19 gold production guidance” as the Syama team was working to get the mine operating at 100% capacity, said Welborn today in a third quarter update.
In addition to Syama, Resolute mines gold at Ravenswood in Australia as well as at the Mako Gold Mine in Senegal. Total output for the third quarter came in at 103,201 ounces establishing the company as a 400,000 oz/year producer, all things being equal.
Welborn also said the firm continued “… to evaluate value accretive growth opportunities both within our existing portfolio and externally”.
Resolute said last week repair downtime would be six weeks costing $5m, but production losses would be ameliorated by a combination of remedial actions at Syama, higher than budgeted gold production at the firm’s Australian mine, Ravenswood, and the contribution of Mako Gold Mines, acquired in the takeover of Toro Gold in July.
