JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gold production from Aim-listed Mwana Africa’s Freda Rebecca gold mine dropped from 13 686 oz in the September quarter, to 11 573 oz in the three months to the end of December.

The resources company attributed the lower production rates, which equated to a monthly production average of 3 858 oz, to mill throughput being adversely affected by two mechanical failures on mills one and two.

"Looking back on the last quarter, Freda Rebecca has experienced some short-term processing issues with the mills; these are to be expected after the commissioning of the second mill and ramp up in production rates. The mine management is focusing on optimising and fine-tuning the production processes,” Mwana CEO Kalaa Mpinga said in a statement on Friday.

Assets at Mwana’s nickel-producing subsidiary Bindura Nickel Corporation, in Zimbabwe, remained on care and maintenance for the quarter, with its Trojan nickel mine ready to resume production as soon as restart funding was acquired. In the interim, limited development and drilling continued at the mine.

The mine hoisted 4 698 t of waste and 32 t of ore during the quarter as part of its care and maintenance programme, compared with the 1 982 t of waste and 3 541 t of ore during the previous period.

Meanwhile, Mwana said that its Zani Kodo gold exploration programme, which produced promising results, continued to show potential.