Oz Minerals’ copper output soars as gold slumps
Oz Minerals says its quarterly copper production hit a five-year high, as gold output fell sharply.
Oz Minerals says it has achieved its highest quarterly production since 2010, boosted by a jump in copper output at its Prominent Hill project in South Australia, and has forecast cash costs for the year will be at the lower end of its guidance range.
The miner (OZL) said today copper production was almost 50 per cent above the previous corresponding period, rising to 32,991 tonnes for the three months ended June 30. That compares to 31,160 tonnes in the March quarter and 22,181 tonnes a year earlier.
Gold output fell to 24,790 ounces compared to 32,874 ounces in the March quarter and 30,736 a year earlier, as the copper feed was prioritised at Prominent Hill. The company said it was still on track to achieve annual guidance of 57,664 ounces.
C1 cash costs rose to US75.3c per pound, from US63.2c in the March quarter, due to the lower gold production and lower inventory credits as milling rates increased.
But the company said costs for the six months to June 30 came in at US69.4c per pound and annual C1 costs are expected to be at the lower end of its 2015 guidance range of US80c to US95c per pound.
Oz Minerals, which has few options for expanding its operations and recently conducted a wideranging review looking at ways to expand the business, said it continues to have little success hunting for acquisitions.
“While the current performance of our existing operations is encouraging at this early stage in our new strategy, several of the third-party assets that we’ve reviewed for potential acquisition have not met the strict investment criteria we set,” said chief executive Andrew Cole.
“We continue to undertake due diligence on several other potential assets.”
The company’s Malu Open Pit at Prominent Hill is expected to reach the end of its mine life in 2018, but will continue to generate revenue for a further four years due to stockpiles, supplemented by underground operations, the company said.
Business Spectator, Dow Jones