ACACIA Mining has announced gold
production drop by almost 35,000 ounces in this year’s quarter one.
The
company has associated the drop with the government directive to stop export of
metallic mineral concentrate. The largest gold firm in the country said the
ban, which was imposed early last month, has affected its revenue by 30 per
cent.
However,
gold sales of 184,744 ounces, was in line with Q1 2016. Its share price at Dar
es Salaam Stock Exchange on Wednesday gained by 1.32 per cent to 13, 030/-.
Acacia
CEO, Brad Gordon, said the impact of the ban in Q1meant that they have
approximately 30,000 ounces of gold in concentrate on hand, which was produced
but not yet sold.
“All-in
Sustaining Cost per ounce sold (AISC) was impacted by sales being lower than
production primarily due to the restriction,” Mr Gordon said in a statement
yesterday.
The
AISC still amounted to 934 US dollars per ounce sold— 877 US dollar per ounce
prior to the impact of share-based payment valuations—3.0 per cent lower than
Q1 2016. “AISC was impacted on a unit cost basis, and had we sold all of the
ounces produced, AISC for the quarter would have been approximately 852 US
dollars per ounce,” he said.
This
has negatively impacted cash flow by approximately 33 million US dollars for
the quarter. In addition, Acacia received approximately 22 million US dollars
in advanced payments for concentrate produced in January and February and
currently held up in the Dar es Salaam port waiting export ban lifting.
“The
advanced payments may need to be refunded during the second quarter if the
export ban is not lifted,” Mr Gordon warned. North Mara is unaffected due to
100 per cent of its production being dore. In 2016, the concentrate accounted
for approximately 45 per cent of Bulyanhulu’s revenues and 55 per cent of
Buzwagi’s revenues.
However,
Acacia gold production increased by 15 per cent to 219,670 ounces compared to
similar quarter last year. “At an operational level Acacia had a very strong
start to the year, with production of 219,670 ounces delivered from our mines,”
Mr Gordon said.
The
CEO, however, said while talks with the government continue their three mines
continue to operate as normal while sand stocks is piling up, at this stage
there were no change to guidance for the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment