Otjikoto mine delivers solid production in 3rd quarter despite slump in production by 23% compared to prior-year quarter
Triple-listed international gold miner, B2Gold’s Otjikoto Gold Mine delivered another quarter of solid production, producing 42,403 ounces of gold in the third quarter of 2018, according to a report on the SENS platform this week.
According to the owner and operator of the local miner this exceeded budget by 4% (1,568 ounces), mainly due to higher than-expected mill throughput (870,125 tonnes compared to budget of 831,781 tonnes and 873,516 tonnes in the third quarter of 2017).
B2Gold also said that mill recoveries also remained high and averaged 98.7%, exceeding both budget of 98.0% and 98.5% in the third quarter of 2017.
“Compared to the prior-year quarter, gold production was lower by 23% (12,748 ounces), as planned, due to a negligible amount of Wolfshag ore being mined in 2018 while Phase 2 of the Wolfshag Pit is being developed. Higher grade ore production is planned to resume from the Wolfshag Pit late in 2019. As a result, the average grade processed in the quarter was 1.54 g/t, compared to budget of 1.52 g/t and 1.99 g/t in the third quarter of 2017,” the mining firm confirmed.
Year-to-date, B2Gold said gold production at the Otjikoto Mine was 122,580 ounces of gold (year-to-date 2017 – 139,088 ounces), above budget by 3% (4,027 ounces).
Meanwhile the released report for full-year 2018, the Otjikoto Mine is expected to produce between 160,000 and 170,000 ounces of gold, primarily from the Otjikoto Pit, at cash operating costs of between US$480 and US$525 per ounce and AISC of between US$700 and US$750 per ounce.
