Acacia production of gold surpasses targets for 2018

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Acacia mining reported a production of 521,980 ounces of gold in 2018,Acacia surpass 2018 production targets by far. However, the quantity was 32 lower than 2017 production.

Dar es Salaam. Acacia mining reported full year production of 521,980 ounces of gold, which is higher than projected 475,000 ounces.

However, the company quarterly production results for the fourth quarter of last year say produced gold was 32 per cent below the 2017 production, due to the transition to reduce operations at Bulyanhulu and to stockpile processing at Buzwagi.

“Gold production in 2018 benefitted from the higher grade ore received from the Nyabirama open pit at North Mara, the extended mining of the final cut of the higher grade ore at the bottom of the pit and switchbacks at Buzwagi combined with the better than expected performance of the Buzwagi processing plant with improved throughput and recoveries, and the favourable performance from tailings processing at Bulyanhulu,” says the results statement.

“I am pleased to report that we have achieved gold production of 130,581 ounces for the fourth quarter, bringing our total gold production for the full year to 521,980 ounces. This is substantially ahead of our initial production guidance for the year of 435,000 to 475,000 ounces,” said Peter Geleta, interim chief executive officer.

“I am proud of the resilience, hard work and dedication shown by our people in realising this achievement despite a challenging operating environment.”

He said over the last 12 months we have focused on successfully stabilising the business, including a return to free cash flow generation in Q2, as they ended the year with a net cash balance of $88 million.

Bulyanhulu produced 10,622 gold ounces for the quarter, above the prior year of 2,855 ounces which was negatively impacted by a drought in the Kahama district, resulting in a temporary halt in the retreatment of tailings in Q4 2017.