Officials at Goldcorp Inc. have announced production increased to 651,700 gold oz in Q3, up from 637,100 oz year-on-year. Owing to a lagging market, however, adjusted earnings fell to $70 million, down from $190 million the same period last year.
Company representatives remained upbeat. “Production is delayed rather than lost,” CEO Chuck Jeannes said, as quoted by Reuters, “so we are growing production;” Goldcorp, accordingly, forecasts 2014 production at 3 million gold oz. Guidance included a $36 million write-down over low-grade stockpiled ore processing at the Penasquito project in Mexico, said Goldcorp; treatment of high-grade material, however, has followed an altered mine plan.
Elsewhere in Mexico, 2014 was impacted at El Sauzal, where safety concerns over pit wall instability prompted a temporary closure; Los Filos met a monthlong landowner dispute in Q2. Chile’s $3.9 billion El Morro gold and copper asset, meanwhile, is suspended in lieu of a Supreme Court ruling favoring local indigenous groups opposed to the project.
