Gold producers are starting to emerge from the woodwork with their production figures for what has been one of the best years for them given the strong gold price.
Saracen Minerals Holdings (ASX:SAR) has come in ahead of its FY2020 guidance of +500,000 ounces with production of 520,414 ounces of gold for the year.
Production for the June 2020 quarter was 145,830 ounces after the company decided to focus on its long-standing ‘future-proof the business’ strategy due to the limited impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its business.
This is contrary to its original plan to prioritise the milling of higher-grade portions of its stockpiles at the Carosue Dam and Thunderbox mines.
“We have now met or exceeded guidance for seven straight financial years,” managing director Raleigh Finlayson said.
“We are also meeting our undertakings to continue driving growth and we expect this to be clearly evident in our strong news flow over the coming months.”
Dual-listed Kirkland Lake Gold (ASX:KLA) has also reported some strong numbers with June 2020 quarter production of 329,770 ounces of gold, up 54 per cent from the same period the previous year.
This is due largely to production from the Detour Lake Mine following the recent acquisition of Detour Gold Corporation.
Detour produced 131,992 ounces of gold during the June 2020 quarter despite disruptions caused by COVID-19.
Meanwhile, IGO Limited (ASX:IGO) has reported FY2020 production of 463,118 ounces of gold from the Tropicana project, which it has a 30 per cent stake in.
The company noted that production was below the mid-point of its guidance of between 450,000 ounces and 500,000 ounces due to the transition into the treatment of stockpiled ore with lower milled grades.
“Stockpiled ore will continue to be a significant source of ore through FY21, supplementing run of mine ore from the Boston Shaker open pit and the new underground mine, along with the Havana open pit as the stage two cutback is developed,” managing director Peter Bradford said.
West African gold play ramping up
West African Resources (ASX:WAF) is meeting its commercial production milestones as it continues to ramp up to full production in the third quarter of 2020 at its Sanbrado mine in Burkina Faso.
The company, which has not hedged any of its production, produced 13,933 ounces of gold in June, taking the total amount produced since operations started on March 8 to 43,973 ounces.
While financial numbers are not available as yet, the updated feasibility study released in 2018 indicated that Sanbrado could have all-in sustaining costs (AISC) of $US551/oz ($802/oz) over the first five years, a supremely low number given that gold prices are currently at $US1,793.70/oz ($2,581.78/oz).
Sanbrado has a total gold resource of more than 3 million ounces and reserve of 1.65 million ounces.
Shares in the newest gold producer in West Africa have nearly tripled in the past year to 96c.