Acacia sees expected decreases in first quarter production

Acacia Mining issued its production results for the first quarter of 2018 on Tuesday, reporting that group gold production for the quarter was in line with expectations at 120,981 ounces, a 55% decrease on the first quarter of 2017, which the board said was primarily driven by the move to reduced operations at Bulyanhulu and to stockpile processing at Buzwagi.

The London-listed firm said gold ounces sold for the quarter of 116,955 ounces were slightly below gold produced for the quarter as a result of the timing of shipments.

At North Mara, gold production for the quarter of 76,769 ounces was, as expected, 20% lower than the first quarter of 2017’s strong, grade-driven performance of 96,468 ounces.

The board said that was mainly due to lower head grade, driven by the underground mine grade of 7.0 grams per tonne being 28% lower than the prior year period as a result of mining taking place in the lower-grade west zone of the Gokona Underground.

At Buzwagi, gold production of 35,685 ounces was 41% lower than the same time last year, as a result of production now being derived from lower grade ore stockpiles due to the effective completion of the open pit.

Acacia said that at Bulyanhulu, gold production for the quarter amounted to 8,527 ounces - 87% below the first quarter of last year.

During the quarter all production came from the retreatment of tailings as a result of the underground mine being placed on reduced operations in late 2017.

The company’s cash balance as at 31 March amounted to around $107m, and increased by $26m during the quarter, with net cash increasing by $40m to approximately $50m at period end.

During the quarter, Acacia said it repaid a further $14m of the CIL debt facility, and received $45m from the sale of a non-core royalty, announced in December last year.

The board said it would be releasing its first quarter results on 19 April.

“Acacia continued to demonstrate resilient operating performance and delivered solid production of 120,981 ounces of gold in the first quarter across the group, which sets us in good stead to deliver against our full year guidance of 435,000-475,000 ounces,” said interim chief executive Peter Geleta.

“All three of our operations delivered in line with their respective mine plans and we were pleased to record an increase in our cash balance to $107m, driven by the sale of a non-core royalty that completed in January 2018, which helped to further stabilise our balance sheet.”