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| Nevsun gold pour |
TORONTO (miningweekly.com)
Eritrea-focused gold miner Nevsun on Monday said it had surpassed its gold production target for the second quarter ended June 30, reporting a 6.1% rise in output to 87 000 oz.
This increase, when compared to the 82 000 oz produced in the first quarter, was achieved on the back of higher-than-expected grades in portions of the transitional oxide zone at the company’s flagship Bisha mine, where 500 000 t of ore at grading 6.04 g/t were mined during the period.
Nevsun said it expected to achieve its current production guidance of between 240 000 oz and 260 000 oz of gold for the year, but would re-evaluate its current guidance in August, when it will review the full-quarter financial results, taking into account July’s actual mining results.
Early in July the company was also granted a mining license by the State of Eritrea for its Harena volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) project, located south of the Bisha operation.
Harena is a satellite VMS deposit with oxide gold and base metal sulphide ores, similar in configuration to Bisha, but smaller and of a lower grade. Nevsun plans to add the resources and reserves for Harena to the Bisha resource and reserve in an update later this month.
“Bisha has all the equipment on-site to start mining operations at Harena over the remainder of this year. The lower-grade Harena gold-oxide ore will be blended with the higher-grade Bisha oxide, which should stabilise overall gold recovery, while providing additional payable ounces,” the company said.
Meanwhile, Nevsun said copper plant expansion continued to progress for start-up in mid-2013 and orders have been placed for equipment needed to export copper concentrate from that time.
In addition to the ongoing Bisha operations and capital expansion, Nevsun continued with its due diligence of expansion opportunities for both copper and gold projects in Africa, the Americas and Europe.
The company’s share price rose by 1.5% on the TSX to trade at C$3.38 apiece on Monday afternoon.
Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter