7th Aug 2014 09:52
LONDON (Alliance News) - Mwana Africa PLC Thursday said it achieved mixed production rates in its first quarter, posting a significant fall in nickel production but growth in its gold and diamonds operations.
"This quarter was mixed as various modifications intended to improve efficiency at Freda Rebecca and Trojan Nickel has been undertaken and the result of these changes will not be reflected until our Q2 update," Chief Executive Kalaa Mpinga said in a statement.
The pan-African, multi-commodity mining and development company said nickel production in concentrate from its Trojan mine in Zimbabwe fell 14% to 1,902 tonnes for the three months ended June 30 compared to the immediately previous quarter, as underground mobile equipment was taken out of commission for refurbishment and due to the mining of lower-grade areas.
The company said it saw a 1% increase in gold production from its Freda Rebecca mine in Zimbabwe to 13,503 ounces, with a rise in head grades to 2.07 grams per tonne from 1.91 grams per tonne due to improvements in its main production block feed grade.
However, Mwana said its diamond production from the Klipspringer mine in South Africa jumped 92% to 23,750 carats from 12,383 carats in the fourth quarter of the previous financial year.
The company said it saw a 26% increase in the average nickel price received to USD17,745 per tonne while it saw a slight improvement in the average gold price received to USD1,310 per ounce from USD1,302 per ounce and a slight fall in the average diamond carat price to USD20 from USD21.
It also said that a conversion drilling at the 'footwall' resource of its Zani Kodo gold project in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been completed with resource classification underway, while a 2014 exploration programme has started at its Semhkat/Hailing joint venture for copper and cobalt in the country.
Mwana Africa shares were down 9.8% to 2.75 pence, putting it amongst the top five AIM fallers on Thursday.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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