TIDMAVM
RNS Number : 0753N
Avocet Mining PLC
27 January 2016
27 January 2016
Q4 2015 Inata production update
Q4 2015 Inata Production
Avocet Mining PLC ("Avocet" or "the Company") today announces
production and cash costs for the fourth quarter of 2015 at the
Inata Gold Mine.
-- Gold production for Q4 was 17,380 ounces at a cash cost of
US$1,094 per ounce, compared with 17,517 ounces produced in Q3 at a
cash cost of US$1,107 per ounce
-- Full year gold production for 2015 was 74,755 ounces at a
cash cost of US$1,058 per ounce, compared with 86,037 ounces in
2014 at a cash cost of US$1,186 per ounce
In spite of production challenges and cash constraints, safety
continues to be a key result area for management. At year end, the
mine had achieved 823 days (approximately 6.8 million man hours)
since the last Lost Time Injury (LTI).
Mining and processing in the quarter focussed on lower grade,
softer oxide ores, with head grades of 1.22 g/t and average
recovery levels of 89%, compared with 1.50 g/t at 72% in Q3.
Throughput increased to 508k tonnes from 448k tonnes in Q3, in
spite of disruption caused by supply issues in the wake of the
September attempted military coup.
Average mining costs of US$318 per ounce in 2015 were lower than
the 2014 level of US$422 per ounce, despite the stripping ratio
more than doubling from 4.5 to 9.8. This has been achieved
principally as a result of the waste from the final North Pit
pushback being dumped within worked out adjacent pits. The high
grade carbonaceous ore from North pit is planned to be mined later
in 2016.
The mine continues to seek further areas for cost reductions,
and during the quarter all management salaries were reduced by 10%.
In spite of a decrease in cash costs in the quarter, margins remain
tight in the context of gold spot rates and particularly diesel
prices, which have been held at March 2015 levels. The Company
continues to work with the Chamber of Mines to lobby the Burkina
Faso government to reduce the price of fuel to reflect the fall in
global oil prices.
Further details of Q4 2015 production are set out at Appendix
I.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT
Avocet Mining PLC Bell Pottinger J.P. Morgan Cazenove
Financial PR Consultants Corporate Broker
================= ========================= =========================
David Cather, CEO Daniel Thöle Michael Wentworth-Stanley
Jim Wynn, FD
----------------- ------------------------- -------------------------
+44 20 3709 2570 +44 20 2772 2500 +44 20 7742 4000
NOTES TO EDITORS
Avocet Mining PLC ("Avocet" or the "Company") is an unhedged
gold mining and exploration company listed on the London Stock
Exchange (ticker: AVM.L) and the Oslo Børs (ticker: AVM.OL). The
Company's principal activities are gold mining and exploration in
West Africa.
In Burkina Faso the Company owns 90% of the Inata Gold Mine. The
Inata Gold Mine poured its first gold in December 2009 and produced
74,755 ounces of gold in 2015. Other assets in Burkina Faso include
five exploration permits surrounding the Inata Gold Mine in the
broader Bélahouro region. The most advanced of these projects is
Souma, some 20 kilometres from the Inata Gold Mine.
In Guinea, Avocet owns 100% of the Tri-K Project in the north
east of the country. Drilling to date has outlined a Mineral
Resource of 3.0 million ounces, and in October 2013 the Company
announced a maiden Ore Reserve on the oxide portion of the orebody,
which is suitable for heap leaching, of 0.5 million ounces. As an
alternative, the potential exists to exploit the entire 3.0 million
ounce Tri-K orebody via the CIL processing method. The Company
announced on 2 April 2015 that an exploitation permit had been
awarded for Tri-K.
Appendix 1
Inata Gold Mine quarterly production information 2014-15
2014 2015
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2014 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2015
Ore mined (k tonnes) 621 818 591 499 2,529 393 397 232 290 1,313
Waste mined (k tonnes) 4,351 3,583 2,116 1,445 11,495 1,420 3,563 4,349 3,494 12,826
Total mined (k tonnes) 4,972 4,401 2,707 1,944 14,024 1,813 3,960 4,581 3,784 14,139
Ore processed (k
tonnes) 483 537 554 329 1,903 437 471 448 509 1,865
Average head grade
(g/t) 1.61 1.44 1.53 2.92 1.77 2.50 2.27 1.50 1.22 1.85
Process recovery
rate 86% 88% 85% 61% 79% 52% 67% 72% 89% 67%
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
Gold Produced (oz) 23,148 21,650 21,736 19,503 86,037 17,011 22,848 17,517 17,782 74,755
Cash costs (US$/oz) Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2014 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2015
Mining 464 508 395 306 422 262 313 362 335 318
Processing 402 478 461 431 442 540 408 486 430 462
Administration 223 242 239 232 234 236 155 188 251 203
Royalties 90 89 88 83 88 75 76 71 78 75
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
1,179 1,317 1,183 1,052 1,186 1,113 952 1,107 1,094 1,058
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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