20th Jan 2014 10:09
LONDON (Alliance News) - Mwana Africa PLC Monday said production at the Freda Rebecca site in Zimbabwe fell 25% in the fourth quarter of 2013 from the previous quarter due to an unavailable mill.
The pan-African, multi-commodity mining and development company said its production at the site fell to 13,072 ounces of gold during the three months ended December 31, after a key mill was unavailable due to engineering down time and shutdowns for modifications.
Mwana Africa said its production also was hit by a drop in head grade due to the temporary cessation of mining at its open pit operations.
The company said modifications at the mill have lead to an improvement in throughput, and it doesn't expect any issues with the head grade in the next quarter.
Head grade is the average grade of ore fed into a mill for processing.
The company said it achieved nickel in concentrate sales volumes of 2,651 tonnes from the Zimbabwean Trojan mine of its 75.4% owned Bindura Nickel Corp, representing an increase of over 76% compared to the previous quarter.
As a result of increased sales volumes from Trojan the Bindura Nickel Corporation quarterly revenue was 74% higher than the previous quarter, at USD24.5 million.
The company also noted that the Klipspringer Diamond Mine in South Africa is currently running on three shifts per day and steady state production of 22,560 tonnes per month is planned from February onwards.
Mwana Africa shares were down 8.4% to 1.53 pence Monday.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
Copyright © 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Mwana Africa