JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed midtier gold miner Asanko Gold’s eponymous mine, in Ghana, West Africa, delivered a strong second quarter in the three months to June 30, achieving commercial production a quarter ahead of schedule and gold production of 36 337 oz, in line with the company’s guidance of between 35 000 oz and 40 000 oz for the quarter.
“[This] was in line with our guidance, and ramp up to steady-state production levels was reached within six months of starting the new production plant,” said Asanko CEO and president Peter Breese in a note to shareholders on Thursday.
Breese added that June was an encouraging month for the company, with 265 000 t of ore at 2.0 g/t gold processed. Asanko was also mining the main Nkran ore zones, with dilution and gold losses having normalised in the last few weeks of June and early indications of the mineral reserve reconciling well with the ore mined.
He also noted that Asanko’s balance sheet remained strong with cash, gold doré and immediately convertible working capital balances of about $43.7-million. It also had no significant long-term debt obligations.
“We look forward to the second half of the year, during which we expect our unit costs to start to come in line with expectations, and an increase in gold production.”
With this in mind, Asanko retained its production guidance of 90 000 oz to 100 000 oz for the second half of 2016.
In addition, the company achieved gold sales of 35 074 oz at an average realised price of $1 231/oz for gross revenue of $43.2-million.
Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter
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