OceanaGold exceeds 2014 target

MANILA, Philippines - Australian miner OceanaGold Corp. yesterday reported that is has exceeded its 2014 production guidance in its Didipio copper-gold project in Nueva Vizcaya.

In a statement, the company said production in the Didipio mine exceeded its production guidance last year of 85,000 to 95,000 ounces of gold and 21,000 to 24,000 tons of copper to produce 106,256 ounces of gold and 25,010 tons of copper.

The company said its processing plant is now operating at a throughput rate of 3.5 million tons per annum after the completion of debottlenecking activities and the installation of a pebble crusher circuit in the fourth quarter.

Also in the last quarter, the company began constructing the power grid connection which is expected to be completed in the third quarter. Once on grid power, operating costs in the mine would be significantly reduced.

In the fourth quarter, the Didipio operation experienced heavy rainfall, measuring over 600 millimeters in the month of December alone.

“Despite the inclement weather, mining and processing at Didipio were not impacted and the operations continued safely as planned. The strong performance during this period of high rainfall demonstrated the robustness of the project design and operation to extreme weather conditions,” said the company.

OceanaGold operates the Didipio under a Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) with the government, but is also pre-developing other mineralized prospects,among which are tenements in the Surigao Peninsula.

OceanaGold operates the Didipio mine through is local arm OceanaGold Philippines.

The Didipio mine was commissioned in December 2012 and began commercial operations in the second quarter of 2012. It is the first mine to operate in the country under an FTAA with the government.

An FTAA allows mining firms owned by a majority of foreigners to operate in the country but requires 50-50 sharing of revenues between the company and the government.