Accra, Aug. 13, GNA - Gold Fields operations in Ghana performed creditably despite a 5 per cent decrease in gold production at its Tarkwa Mines.
A statement issued in Accra on Wednesday and made available to the Ghana News Agency put gold production at the Tarkwa Mines down from 136,000 ounces in the first quarter to 129,000 ounces at the end of June, second quarter.
The March quarter production included an 11,000 ounces release of gold inventory from the leach pads as compared to 7,000 ounces in June. Quantity of ore crushed reduced marginally from 3,847,000 tons last quarter to 3,723,000 tons this quarter with the yield of 1.1 grams per ton, remaining constant.
For the second quarter, total operating costs increased by 3 per cent to 26 million dollars due primarily to increased grade control drilling, which combined with the 3 per cent decline in throughput resulted in a 6 per cent increase in unit operating costs from 6.68 dollars to 7.06 dollars.
As a result, total cash costs increased by a similar quantum to 213 dollars per ounce.
Tarkwa contributed 17 million dollars to operating profit, a decrease of 15 per cent quarter on the quarter. At Damang, production increased marginally to 78,000 ounces because of an increase in mill throughput, from 1,228,000 tons to 1,309,000 tons.
Yield remained constant at 1.9 grams per tons. Total cash costs decreased from 248 dollars per ounce to 223 dollar per ounce quarter on quarter.
This decrease was due to the increased production, allied with gold in process credit of 1.4 million dollars due to the stockpiling of some high-grade ore that could not be treated during the quarter.
Unit operating costs increased to 14.20 dollars per ton from 13.80 dollars per ton in the March quarter. The net result was an increase in operating profit of 18 per cent to 10 million dollars.
Meanwhile, expansion works at the Tarkwa Mine has begun since June 2003. This will inject nearly 160 million dollars into the operations within the next eighteen months.