African Barrick Gold posts 17 pct production loss

African Barrick Gold posted a 17 percent fall in gold production in the first quarter, partly due to lower head grades at its Buzwagi mine in Tanzania.

The Tanzania-focused miner produced 144,643 ounces of attributable gold in the quarter.

Power outages at its mines held back output in the final quarter last year, with the company's full-year production falling 2 percent to 688,278 ounces.

African Barrick, a unit of Barrick Gold Corp, the world's largest gold miner, reported a 41 percent surge in costs to $925 per ounce for the quarter, well ahead of its full-year estimate of $790 to $860 per ounce.

Costs jumped 22 percent last year on the back of rising inflation, higher wages and increased use of more expensive generator power to keep mines working.
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"Solid operating results" through most of Goldcorp's mine portfolio "were offset by a challenging first quarter at Red Lake," said Goldcorp CEO Chuck Jeannes.

"Adverse ground conditions at Red Lake delayed the development of new mining faces in the High Grade Zone which, taken together with lower grade in other areas of the mine, led to our slow start to 2012," Jeannes said.
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Goldcorp reported gold production of 524,700 ounces in the first quarter, down from 637,000 ounces in the first quarter of last year. Silver production totaled 6.6 million ounces during the first quarter of the year, up from 6.1 million ounces in the first quarter of 2011.
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matrixxx said:

What are peoples thoughts on today's drop?

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