OceanaGold optimistic on production targets

MANILA, Philippines — Listed Australian-Canadian miner OceanaGold Philippines Inc. (OGPI) expects to meet the lower end of its production guidance for the year, both for gold and copper, as the company moves toward mining higher grade ores, its executives said.

OceanaGold Corp. executive vice president and COO for Asia-Pacific Peter Sharpe said the subsidiary, which operates the Didipio mine in Nueva Vizcaya, sees better output in the second half, bringing full-year production at the lower end of its targets.

Didipio mine plans to produce between 120,000 and 135,000 ounces of gold and 12,000 to 14,000 metric tons (MT) of copper this year.

The mine has to produce about 70,000 ounces of gold and 6,200 MT of copper in the second half to meet the lower end of its production guidance.

Didipio mine’s gold output in the first half fell by 24 percent to 49,400 ounces from 65,200 ounces in the same period of last year. Meanwhile, its copper production declined by nearly 16 percent to 5,800 MT from 6,900 MT.

One of the factors that affected the mine’s production in the second quarter was the unexpected downtime in the processing plant, resulting in lower mill throughput.

The company also decided to defer its plan to mine higher grade ores following the unfortunate fatality recorded at the mine.

“It is one of the weakest quarters we had in the past years. It has been planned to be weaker than other quarters but because of unplanned events it was weaker than the original plan to be,” Sharpe said in a press briefing yesterday.

The lower metal output dragged the firm’s second quarter net income to fall by 30 percent to $14.2 million from $20.3 million.

Didipio mine is slowly adjusting its mill feed mix to be able to mine more higher grades in the long run.