OceanaGold Corp. reported consolidated gold production of 122,782 oz with record quarterly gold production at Didipio. The company’s consolidated all-in sustaining costs of $716/oz and cash costs of $436/oz were on sales of 117,387 oz of gold and 4,745 metric tons (mt) of copper.
“I’m pleased to announce another strong quarter of operational and financial results underpinned by record quarterly production and a continued improvement in safety,” said Mick Wilkes, president and CEO, OceanaGold. “Our portfolio of high-quality assets continue to deliver positive results and with the construction of the Haile Gold mine and the Didipio underground progressing on time and budget, we are very well placed to achieve our plans for growth in 2016. In addition, with the receipt of our FTAA exploration renewal, we have remobilized our exploration team in the Philippines to carry out drilling on a number of high-quality drill ready targets across the FTAA.”
At Didipio, the operation achieved record quarterly gold production of 46,811 oz and produced 5,972 mt of copper. The quarter-on-quarter increase in production was a result of record quarterly mill feed and higher head grade. Mining operations focused on mining the high-grade core of Stage 5 of the open pit with the majority of ore mined stockpiled on surface. At the end of the quarter, more than 17 million mt of ore were stockpiled for future processing.
Development of the underground continued to progress and is on track for first ore processed by the end of 2017. In the second half of 2016, the company plans to carry out an infill and extensional drill program of the Didipio underground resource.
In New Zealand, the company achieved steady production at the Waihi Gold mine while continuing to receive encouraging results from infill, extensional and exploration drilling. In the second quarter, the company will recommence drilling at the WKP target located in close proximity to Waihi.
On the South Island of New Zealand, production at Macraes and Reefton were lower than the previous quarter due mainly to decreased production at Reefton where the operation transitioned to care and maintenance following the depletion of stockpiles. Exploration activities at Macraes continued to progress well with drilling of multiple targets including Coronation North, Coronation South and the Frasers Underground.
In the U.S., the development of the Haile Gold mine continued to advance well with completion of engineering and the full commissioning of the water treatment plant. The PAG cell development was also completed in the first quarter and is now ready to accept material mined from the open pit. As at the end of the quarter, $178 million of the $380 million development cost had been spent on the Haile gold mine.
