OceanaGold ramps record output

MANILA, Philippines - Multinational mining company OceanaGold has ramped record performances from last year to date topped by the achievement by its Didipio Mine of a production milestone of 100,000 dry metric tons of copper since commencement of operation in 2013. This is the 18th shipment of copper concentrates from its mine site to international destinations.

This was revealed by Mick Wilkes, OceanaGold managing director and CEO, who expressed satisfaction with the performance  of the company for 2013 calling it OceanaGold’s “transformative year where we brought on line our newest asset, Didipio which continues to perform well.” The Didipio operations, according to Wilkes, produced 66,277 ounces of gold along with 23,059 tons of copper which exceeded the guidance range of l8,000 to 20,000 tons.  In 2013, the operation milled the planned 2.5 million tons of ore and achieved the planned recovery rates.

Wilkes said OceanaGold closed the year with “record gold production, strong copper production and record revenue despite a significantly lower average gold price received than in previous years.”

For the full year 2013, the company reported gold production of 325,732 ounces of gold slightly exceeding the company’s 2013 gold production guidance range of 285,000 to 325,000 ounces.  On a co-product basis, the company produced 447,858 gold ounces.  The reported revenue of $553.6 million was a result of higher gold sales and copper sales from Didipio’s first nine months of commercial production.

“OceanaGold has transformed itself into a multinational gold producer with a solid endowment .  We will continue to develop new reserves and resources at our existing mines in pit and near mine exploration.  We will focus on satellite projects located within the current tenements and pursue selective development opportunities that are complementary and add low cost gold reserves to the business,” Wilkes said.

Looking ahead to 2014, Wilkes said OceanaGold plans to mill 3 million tons of ore and expects to increase throughput rates to 3.5 Mtpa and is implementing initiatives to increase productivity and drives efficiencies at the operation to further reduce costs. 

“OceanaGold will continue to further strengthen the balance sheet and position the company for new value-add opportunities while working closely with all its stakeholders to deliver positive results in safe and sustainable manner,” Wilkes added.