JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Canadian resources company Pretivm Resources’ Brucejack mine, in British Columbia, produced 141 927 oz of gold in the year ended December 31.
The first gold pour at the mine took place in June 2017 and Pretivm expects to develop Brucejack into a “premier low-cost intermediate gold producer by the end of 2019”.
Pretivm president and CEO Joseph Ovsenek on Thursday said the company’s financial performance for the 2017 financial year was in line with expectations given the production ramp-up at Brucejack.
“We have implemented several operational performance improvement initiatives, leveraging our experience in the fourth quarter of 2017,” he added.
He explained that Pretivm is increasing its underground development rate to provide for optimal mining stope inventory and that the integration of the company’s grade control programme was under way.
“We expect to deliver on our production guidance of 150 000 oz to 200 000 oz of gold for the first half of this year and to achieve steady-state production by mid-to-late 2018.
“We also anticipate we will see more momentum towards those achievements in the second quarter of this year as our grade control programme progresses.”
For the 2017 financial year, the company earned revenues of $117.9-million, with 127 746 oz of gold and silver sold.
Total cash cost was $683/oz of gold sold and all-in sustaining costs were $852/oz of gold sold.
Pretivm’s net loss for the financial year narrowed to $16.5-million, compared with the $61.2-million net loss reported for 2016.
Pretivm Resources generated $52.9-million in earnings from mine operations, with cash generated by operations being $73.3-million.