Centamin's Sukari mine first quarter gold production up 6.5%

Gold miner Centamin said first quarter production from its Sukari operation in Egypt rose 6.5% compared with the previous period to 125,268 ounces.

The company said it maintained full year production guidance of 470,000 ounces.

Quarterly throughput at the process plant was 2,876kt, a 4.3% increase on the previous quarter and above Centamin's base case target rate of 11m tonnes per annum (Mtpa).

Open pit total material movement increased 10.2% on the previous quarter to 15,157kt, with open pit ore production increasing by 7.9% to 2,405kt.

The run of mine ore stockpile balance decreased by 213kt to 491kt at the end of the period.

The underground operation delivered 281kt of ore, a 6.3% decrease on the previous quarter but remaining above our forecast production rate of 1m tonnes a year.